A new image of the platform was released 76 hours after the incident was first reported
A flame is still burning in the stack above a North Sea platform from which gas has been leaking for three days.
Experts expressed concern that escaping gas could connect with the naked flame in the flare stack and explode.
Oil company Total said a cloud of escaped gas at sea level was at a much lower height than the flare on the Elgin platform, 150 miles off Aberdeen.
A spokesman said the flare was left burning when the platform was evacuated on Sunday.
He said the flare had been doing an important job taking excess gas off the production platform.
It was hoped it would burn itself out but the oil giant did not know when that would happen.
A cloud of escaped gas was reported to have bubbled up through the sea and was surrounding the base of the platform.
A sheen of between two and 23 tonnes of gas condensate, measuring six nautical miles in length, was reported on the water nearby.
The flare was said to be 90 metres (295ft) above the gas leak.
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