Chevron Pays $5M to Family of Pennsylvania Well Fire Victim

Chevron Corp.  has paid a reported $5 million to settle a lawsuit filed last year by the parents of a worker who was burnt to death in a gas well fire in western Pennsylvania.

Local media reported the $5 million settlement, saying it had been approved by a judge in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in Pittsburgh earlier this month.

John Gismondi, a Pittsburgh personal injury lawyer who represented the parents of the 27-year-old victim, Ian McKee, said he could not comment on the reported settlement amount.

"I can say the case has been resolved to everyone's satisfaction," he told Reuters on Friday.

A Chevron (CVX) spokesman, Cameron Van Ast, told Reuters that the case has been resolved in a way "that allows all parties to move forward. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of Ian McKee."

McKee died Feb. 11, 2014, when he went to investigate the hissing sound of gas escaping under high pressure at the Chevron Lanco 7H well in Greene County, Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh.

The escaping gas exploded, incinerating McKee and starting a fire that burned for four days. Chevron called in specialty fire fighting crews from Texas to bring the well fire under control and recover the worker's remains.

A report in August by the Pennsylvania Department of  Environmental Protection blamed the disaster on errors by an inexperienced worker - not McKee - and a supervisor who failed to make sure a lock pin was tightened properly.

All three worked for Cameron International Corp., a Houston-based company hired by Chevron to bring its wells into production and keep them flowing properly.

The report said Chevron's supervision of Cameron contract employees at the well was spotty. It said Chevron's well site manager that day "spent most of his time in the trailer attending to paperwork or other matters."

At the time of his death, McKee lived in West Virginia but was originally from Warren, Pennsylvania. After he died, a son was born to his girlfriend. 

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Sandra Maler)