Total's Elgin gas leak costing $1.5m a day in lost earnings The French group said that it had advanced its two-pronged plan to stem the leak, located 150 miles east of Aberdeen in Scotland, where it is estimated that 200,000 cubic metres of gas is escaping per day. Michel Hourcard, Total's senior vice-president for development in exploration and production, told investors that the company would begin the drilling of two relief wells, as well as a "top kill operation" to pump heavy mud into the site to try and stem the leak. The company said that a successful top kill would mean the company would be able to suspend relief well drilling, but would commence both operations as soon as it had gained approval from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as pumping mud into the well involves reboarding the Elgin platform. Total estimated that the leak had cost it $1.5m a day in lost production earnings, as well as response costs of around $1m a day. This could rise to $1.5m a day when the drilling commences, Total said. Patrick de la Chevardière, Total's chief financial officer, also dismissed comparisons with BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010. "We understand that comparisons to Macondo are inevitable but the situations are very different," he said. The news comes two days after the company confirmed that the flare threatening to ignite the gas cloud leaking from the platform had extinguished itself. The leak, which began more than a week ago, forced the evacuation of all 238 workers from the platform, which sits in waters less than 100 metres deep and 240km (150 miles) off the east coast of Scotland. Total shares rose as high as €39.09 following the announcement, and are currently up 1.71pc, at €38.895. The company has seen around €5bn wiped off its value since the leak was discovered on March 25.