Workers evacuated from Cormorant Alpha platform after oil leak NON-essential personnel are being evacuated by helicopter from a North Sea installation following an oil leak in one of the platform's giant legs. Cormorant Alpha is owned by Taqa Bratani and is situated 94 miles east of Shetland Leak was discovered in one of the platform's giant legs on Monday afternoon, and production has stopped as a precaution 159 people are on board Cormorant Alpha with scheduled helicopter flights taking non-essential staff off the installation The oil workers on Taqa Bratani's Cormorant Alpha platform, 94 miles east off Shetland, are being taken off the platform on a series of scheduled flights following the discovery of the leak on Monday afternoon. Production on the platform has also been shut down as a precautionary measure and all 159 workers on board are said to be "safe and well." A spokeswoman for Taqa Bratani, part of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company , said: "Taqa can confirm that an indication of hydrocarbons was detected in one of the legs of the Cormorant Alpha platform in the northern UK North Sea at 4.15 pm on 14 January. Since the discovery, hydrocarbon levels have been continually monitored. The platform and all pipeline infrastructure have been shut down as a precaution. The hydrocarbons are contained within the platform leg and none have been released into the environment. A technical team is investigating the source of the hydrocarbons. She added: "There are 159 people on board and our number one priority is the safety and well-being of our people. All those on board have been accounted for and they are all safe and well. We have stopped all non-essential work on the platform to focus all our efforts on addressing this issue. As a precaution, we will be taking all non-essential crew off the installation. This will be done by scheduled helicopter flights throughout the day. The first flight is due to land on the platform at 1.30pm. It is planned to evacuate non essential personnel to both neighbouring platforms and the mainland but the numbers involved has still to be confirmed. The spokeswoman explained that hydrocarbons at the source of the investigation was oil. Cormorant Alpha produces approximately 90,000 barrels of oil per day.