On a cold, breezy Jan. 11 night, a water truck driver climbed a tank that sat next to a set of producing Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. wells in Susquehanna County.

The rectangular metal tank held production fluid, according to a state Department of Environmental Protection report from that night. The term describes ancient water and other constituents trapped in the Marcellus Shale for millennia.

The worker needed to check the level of fluid in the 21,000-gallon tank. Using his cellphone as a flashlight, he peered inside, according to the DEP.

Somehow, the phone ignited flammable vapors in the tank, causing an explosion, multiple DEP reports state. The blast bowed the tank’s walls outward and split a gaping crack in its back end. Around 2,835 gallons of production water spilled out.

This fluid spilled onto the well pad, some escaping containment and reaching nearby soil, according to the DEP.

On Tuesday, the DEP announced it would fine Cabot $120,000 for the incident, which occurred on the R Reynolds well pad in Jessup Twp.

Somerset Regional Water Resources, the contractor whose worker reportedly caused the explosion, did not face fines.

The DEP’s Tuesday release included no information on the worker. The Times-Tribune learned about him from MarcellusGas.org.

The worker suffered burns in the explosion but was able to return to work shortly afterward, Cabot spokesman George Stark said.

Efforts to identify the worker were not successful. Cabot spokesmen Mr. Stark and Bill desRosiers said they didn’t know his name, and Somerset Regional Water Resources staff and employees did not return phone calls.

On Jan. 14, three days after the incident, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted a safety inspection. The case was listed as “closed” in early June.

On Jan. 17, the DEP issued Cabot a notice of violation stating Cabot violated the Oil and Gas Act and accompanying regulations, the Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Streams Law.

DEP spokesman Daniel Spadoni explained why the department announced the fine almost 11 months after the explosion.

“The department first needed to verify the spill was properly remediated, which occurred in early June,” he said in an email. “The remaining time was spent calculating the penalty and preparing the legal document.”

The night of the explosion, Cabot immediately shut in the wells and sent vacuum trucks to clean up the spill, according to DEP inspection reports.

Since then, the company has reviewed its policies and procedures, Mr. Stark said.

“As a result of our review of this incident, we have implemented additional safeguards into our design and construction practices across our operations, and we continue to work toward our goal of zero incidents and maintaining a safe, reliable workplace,” he said in an email.

As one example, Cabot is moving toward the use of wireless measurement devices, he said.

Contact the writer: bgibbons@timesshamrock.com, @bgibbonsTT on Twitter