Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, said it wasn't ready to start production at its North Sea Elgin-Franklin fields after they shut on Feb. 4.

The fields stopped gas production after the fuel failed to meet specifications. An amine unit, which removes acid from natural gas, is being inspected. Total said on Feb. 6 it hoped to resolve the fault ``within a couple of days''.

``The investigation is still on-going,'' Jenny Costelloe, a Total spokeswoman in Aberdeen, Scotland, said in a telephone interview today.

Maximum production at the Elgin-Franklin fields is 280,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, including 175,000 barrels of condensate and 15.5 million cubic meters of gas, according to Total's Web site.

The condensate is exported though the Forties Pipeline System to Kinneil, Scotland.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Farey in London at bfarey@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: February 8, 2008 05:43 EST