By Ryan Dezember

Chesapeake Energy, the oil-and-gas producer founded by famed wildcatter Aubrey McClendon, said that starting tomorrow it will be known as Expand Energy and trade under the ticker "EXE."

Impetus for changing a name that became synonymous with the U.S. shale-drilling boom is Chesapeake's merger with rival Southwestern Energy, which closed today. The combined company is now the country's largest natural-gas producer.

"Expand Energy is built to disrupt the industry's traditional cost and market delivery model," said Nick Dell'Osso, Expand's chief executive.

McClendon, who died in a 2016 car crash near the company's Oklahoma City headquarters, graduated from Duke University and named Chesapeake for the nearby estuary.

He built Chesapeake into a natural-gas behemoth by embarking on of the biggest land grabs in modern U.S. history, leasing vast tracts of drilling rights above shale formations that new drilling technology made economical to tap.

Ultimately, Chesapeake was spread too thin and succumbed to low energy prices during the pandemic. It emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2021 and regained its perch atop the natural-gas business.

This year, Chesapeake has weathered some of the lowest natural-gas prices on record by dialing back production. Its moves have buoyed national prices. That has represented a big change from the company's early days, when it drilled regardless of prices in order to stake claim to the country's big shale-gas fields.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2024 12:14 ET (16:14 GMT)

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