Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) has appointed Robert Douglas Lawler of Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC) as chief executive, filling the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon, who left the company April 1, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
The Journal reported that Lawler, senior vice president of international and deep-water operations at Anadarko Petroleum, will join Chesapeake and its board of directors on June 17.
In January, Chesapeake Energy said that its co-founder, chief executive officer and president Aubrey McClendon would retire from the company on April 1, ending a 24-year tenure at the company's helm. McClendon, aged 53, has served as Chesapeake's CEO since the inception of the company in 1989 and as chairman of the board from its founding until 2012. He would continue to serve as CEO of the company until a successor is named.
Chesapeake has been under scrutiny from federal regulators and investors after McClendon was found to have taken loans of more than $1 billion from private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners LLC, using his stake in the company's drilling wells that were obtained under a controversial program.
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