Three workers were burned when a fire broke out at a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drilling site in Washington County, PA, on Wednesday night.

Chesapeake said the incident occurred at its Powers Well Site, located in Independence Township in the Marcellus Shale play, close to the West Virginia border.

The company said a temporary well-testing operation was being conducted at the time of the accident. “The injured workers were not part of these tests but were on location performing routine maintenance on the site. [They] were removing water from the location as a result of the snow melting.”

A flash fire caused the first of five 500 bbl condensate storage tanks to catch fire, which ignited the others. Chesapeake said three wells on the pad were closed, or shut-in, using valves at the surface when the incident occurred.

(To read the full story go to shaledaily.com).

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