HARRISBURG — Citing three recent chemical spills at one well site, Pennsylvania regulators said they had ordered Cabot Oil and Gas. to halt its use of a drilling technique that uses liquids to fracture rock and release natural gas.

The state Department of Environmental Protection's order applies to eight of Cabot's drilling sites, all in Susquehanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The company, which received the order Thursday, voluntarily shut down its use of the drilling technique — called hydraulic fracturing, or "flacking" — at the spill-plagued site there earlier this week. It has seven other drilling sites that eventually will require flacking to complete.

"The department took this action because of our concern about Cabot's current flacking process and to ensure that the environment in Susquehanna County is properly protected," the DEP's north-central regional director, Robert Yowell.

Under the state's order, Cabot must complete a number of engineering and safety tasks before it can resume its flacking process.