Mobilized by Total: Transocean’s Sedco 714 and the Rowan Gorilla 5

LONDON ( Dow Jones ) – Efforts to drill a relief well to plug the leak seen since Sunday on a platform of Total (FP.FR) in the UK North Sea began with two drill ships already mobilized in the area and that should begin to intervene in the coming days, said Philippe Guys Friday, general manager of Total E & P UK.

The Sedco 714 and the Rowan Gorilla 5, already under contract with Total, are positioning themselves to start operations as soon as an initial assessment of the seabed has been completed, he added.

A project to “kill” the well by injecting mud runs parallel, but it should take much longer to launch because it is currently dangerous to allow employees to board the abandoned platform.

-Alexis Flynn, Dow Jones Newswires