Chesapeake Energy, the iconic energy explorer that helped ignite the American shale-gas boom, is emerging from bankruptcy protection in the shadow of its former tone. And somehow, it’s okay with his boss.

“Shell has been characterized by growth and growth for all the wrong reasons,” the company’s chief executive, Doug Lolar, said in an interview. “What we are moving forward is a new era for the shell.”

The driller came out of Chapter 11 protection on Tuesday.

The driller exited Chapter 11 protection on Tuesday. 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.

Nowadays, Chesapeake is trying to enter a rock industry that has been brought down, relaxed, and gone through painful evolution. Lolar, who has led the company since 2013 (and who says bankruptcy could have been avoided if it hadn’t for the oil price crash in 2020), has overseen a 90% reduction in the workforce. Last week, the company made one more job cut on its Oklahoma City-based campus and is going to renovate the extensive site, much of which is now surplus.