On 25 March 2012, a gas leak occurred at the Elgin platform resulting in a shut down of production and evacuation of personnel.

[8] No injuries were reported and 219 non-essential personnel were evacuated from the PUQ and the adjacent Rowan Viking jack up drilling rig, which was performing the decommissioning work.

[9] At the time of the incident the fields were producing 120,000 barrels per day (19,000 m3/d) of oil equivalent, about 7% of the UK's gas production.

[10] Methane gas was released into the environment as was between two and 23 tonnes of condensate which formed a sheen on the sea surface measuring approximately 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) in length.

Shell E&P also evacuated non essential staff from the separate Shearwater platform located in block 22/30b 6 km (3.2 nmi) from Elgin.

[11] At its peak, 200,000 cubic metres per day (7,100,000 cu ft/d) of gas was being released, which slowed when a relief well was drilled.

The platform flare was alight till 31 March 2012 representing a potential risk of ignition for the leaking gas if wind direction should change.

Total announced the flare spontaneously shut down on Saturday 31 March 2012 after exhaustion of the volatile residues within the PUQ processing facilities which it was burning.

[12] The cause of the incident was identified as corrosion in the casing of the G4 well, and a sudden release of gas from the Hod formation above the producing reservoir.

[13] Total identified the origin of the gas leak to be an unexploited chalk reservoir layer of the Hod formation located at a depth of 4,500 metres (14,800 ft), above the main reservoir, which was supported by analysis showing the absence of significant concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the gas.

On 25 February 2012, an increase in pressure was observed in the C annulus within the well and remedial operations started on 4 March 2012.

This involved pumping weighted drilling mud into the well via the wellhead assembly, a method which was ultimately successful in halting the leak.

Eleven monitoring overflights of the area by surveillance aircraft from Oil Spill Response Limited were made in early May, and the flow rate from the well was estimated at that time to be 50,000 cubic metres per day (1,800,000 cu ft/d).

[23] The Air Accidents Investigation Branch issued an update on 11 January 2017 which reported that the tail rotor pitch change shaft bearing had seized.

The Elgin-Franklin development is located in the Central Graben Area of the North Sea 240 kilometres (130 nmi) east of Aberdeen, Scotland at a water depth of 93 metres (305 ft).

The PUQ is a pile mounted jack up design which contains hydrocarbon processing facilities, control systems and accommodation for the crew of 97.

Well drilling and workover services are provided when needed by a jack up rig which operates in tender mode.

The west Franklin and Elgin B platforms were installed in 2014 in order to enable drilling of further development wells in the fields due to constraints in the existing facilities.