Chesapeake Energy Corp., the once-iconic energy explorer that helped ignite the American shale-gas boom, is emerging from bankruptcy protection a shadow of its former self, Bloomberg News reported. And in a way, that’s just fine with its boss. “Shale has been marked by growth, and growth for all the wrong reasons,” Doug Lawler, the company’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “What we see going forward is a new era for shale.” The driller exited chapter 11 protection on yesterday. Long gone is co-founder and ex-CEO Aubrey McClendon, who died in 2016, three years after he was forced out in a Carl Icahn-led boardroom revolt. Also consigned to history is Chesapeake’s spot in the pantheon of premier U.S. energy producers like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. The company lost most of its acquisitive swagger as it grappled with the fallout of ill-timed deals that saddled it with a crushing debt load. These days, Chesapeake is slimmed down, chastened and looking to make its way in a shale industry that has gone through a painful evolution. Lawler, who’s led the company since 2013 (and who says bankruptcy could have been avoided if it wasn’t for 2020’s oil price crash) has overseen a reduction of 90% of its workforce. Just last week, the company made another round of job cuts at its Oklahoma City-based campus, and moved to redevelop the expansive site, much of which is now surplus to requirements.
