The French energy giant has been fined over the 2012 incident which authorities said "could have easily led to loss of life".
Energy giant Total has been fined a record £1.125m over a blow-out on a rig three years ago that saw 3,000 tonnes of gas released into the North Sea.
The incident in March 2012 saw 238 workers evacuated when the gas was released from the Elgin platform 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.
It took 51 days to plug the release, which was equivalent to more than 300 road tankers.
Total was fined at the Aberdeen Sheriff Court after admitting health and safety breaches in relation to the incident. It is the largest fine handed down by a Sheriff's Court for health and safety offences.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) operations manager Russell Breen said: "This incident was foreseeable and entirely preventable. There were a number of failures on the part of Total."
It happened when Total botched its attempt to shut down a well after discovering a fault, the HSE said.
Mr Breen said the failings "contributed to them losing control of the well and the sudden uncontrolled release of gas".
He added: "Industry must learn from this, it is an important reminder of the ever-present hazards with oil and gas production and the need for them to be rigorously managed. This could have easily led to loss of life."
Total said: "Total regrets the gas leak, we failed to meet the very high standards we set ourselves, and which we have historically achieved.
"Safety is our highest priority. Following the incident we carried out our own investigation to identify the causes of the incident and what can be done to prevent similar incidents in future."
Total said it cooperated fully with the HSE and Department of Energy and Climate Change investigations into the incident.
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