Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- New York had a ``small gas leak'' in Greenwich Village, and officials are working to determine the origin of an unusual odor reported over a wide area of Manhattan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

New York Emergency Management Director Joseph Bruno said 27 people had called emergency services reporting that they were ``feeling ill from the smell,'' which was reported from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan to Midtown. The city's utility company disputed the report of a Greenwich Village gas leak.

The city's many air sensors aren't reporting any elevated gas levels, the mayor said in a televised news conference.

``The sensors do not show any high concentrations of natural gas that would give us cause to be concerned,'' he said. The leak's origin was at Bleecker Street and Sixth Avenue, he said.

``This is what we know: The smell is there, we don't know the source of it, it does not appear to be dangerous and some of the facilities that were shut down are now being reopened.''

Consolidated Edison Inc. spokesman Chris Ohlert said the company had ``no gas leaks on our system.'' Earlier reports about a gas leak on Bleeker Street were ``unfounded'' and the utility had no leads on where the smell originated, he said.

PATH commuter train service was restored as of 10:30 a.m., Steve Coleman, a spokeman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said. Two commuter lines from New Jersey into Manhattan were suspended earlier because of the investigation.

Bloomberg said the smell resembled mercaptan, a sulphur- based chemical compounded added to natural gas.

Natural gas and propane are naturally colorless and odorless. Mercaptan gives the gasses the distinctive smell of rotting vegetables that can be detected in case of gas leaks. In natural gas, mercaptan is injected directly into distribution pipes. Only very small quantities of the potent gas are required.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 8, 2007 13:30 EST