The operator of a North Sea pipeline said Thursday it might not be able to make deliveries as repairs to a cracked pipe could take weeks, but government officials said the shutdown posed no risks to supplies of gas and oil to consumers.

The Forties pipeline system, which normally carries 40 percent of UK oil and gas production in the North Sea, was recently acquired by multinational chemicals group Ineos.

Ineos invoked a legal escape clause allowing producers to miss contracted deliveries because of circumstances beyond their control.

"We can confirm that formal force majeure has been declared on relevant contracts," it said in a statement

The group shut down the North Sea pipeline on Monday, causing a spike in oil and gas prices that day, and now says the repairs will take "weeks rather than days".

The fault was discovered on an onshore section of the pipeline near the Scottish city of Aberdeen last Wednesday, and only stopped expanding in size on Tuesday.