By Martin Robinson PUBLISHED: 03:18 EST, 27 March 2012 | UPDATED: 14:51 EST, 27 March 2012 A giant explosive cloud hanging over a North Sea rig could take six months to clear and may expand towards the Scottish coast, it was warned today. The huge underwater reservoir tapped by oil giant Total's Elgin platform, which sits 150 miles from Aberdeen, is known as the 'well from hell' because it is so difficult to plug. An exclusion zone stretching up to four miles has been set up around the platform because it could explode. The exact source of the leak is still a mystery but it is escaping out of the platform, which has pumped gas and oil to Britain for the past decade.
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A four-mile exclusion zone has been set up around the Elgin Total platform
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Texan 'Hellfighters' who tackled the Deepwater Horizon disaster have reportedly been called in
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Shell has also pulled out workers from nearby rigs
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The leak could take six months to fix because of the huge pressure produced by the well below the North Sea
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Total's share price drops by 5% as they scramble to solve the crisis
Danger: A leak from the @placeholder rig, pictured, has led to more than 300 workers being evacuated from that and surrounding oil and gas platforms