HOUSTON — Resurrecting what remains of Enron Corp. will be both difficult and different from any previous case, but not impossible, the company's new chief executive said Wednesday.

        Stephen Cooper, who has shepherded many companies through bankruptcy, faces considerable challenges: Enron's collapse amid alleged accounting abuses left thousands of workers jobless; generated a maze of criminal and congressional inquiries; and prompted calls for reform in the accounting industry, pension-fund management and disclosure by Wall Street analysts.

        “There has not been, at least in my experience, any situation which has generated as much attention and has provided such a platform relative to this particular set of dynamics,” Mr. Cooper said in an interview.

        But Mr. Cooper, hired Jan. 29 to succeed Enron's former chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay, said he remains committed to returning Enron to its roots as a mover of natural gas and electricity, leaving behind its high-flying days as trading-market leader.

        The veteran restructuring specialist, whose clients have included Polaroid Corp. and Laidlaw Inc., said he is aiming for reorganization rather than liquidation to try to preserve something that can earn revenue for creditors rather than selling off assets for pennies on the dollar.

        Mr. Cooper, 55, a principal in the New York-based firm Zolfo Cooper, answers to Enron's board but mainly serves the company's creditors.

        When asked if creditors were pressing for liquidation, Cooper said they are focused on “maximizing value.”

        “It's the management of Enron's responsibility to convince our various constituents that we can deliver more value by going down the reorganization route and showing how that value gets created rather than just a piecemeal liquidation,” he said.

        While 4,500 workers abruptly were laid off the day after Enron filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2, the company still has 20,000 employees worldwide — mostly in pipeline and power operations that aren't bankrupt, Mr. Cooper said.

        Swiss investment bank UBS Warburg acquired Enron's once-envied trading operation in January by promising to pay Enron 33 percent of profits for the next few years. Enron surrendered its largest asset, the 16,500-mile Northern Natural Gas Co. pipeline, to rival Dynegy Inc. in January.

        The reorganized Enron will have full or partial ownership of three pipelines and power operations, mainly in South America.

        Mr. Cooper said the company is negotiating with creditors for a third round of bonuses to retain critical employees in those operations and at Enron's headquarters. The company doled out more than $100 million in two rounds of bonuses to about 600 workers last year.

        “It's important to again preserve the intellectual capital that we have,” he said. Mr. Cooper declined to specify how much the company wants to pay or who would get bonuses.

        Mr. Cooper said he and 10 Zolfo colleagues are working for Enron. He said he works an average of 15 hours a day and occupies former chief executive Jeff Skilling's old office on the top floor of Enron's 50-story headquarters.

        William Brandt Jr., president of Development Specialists, a Chicago firm that helps embattled businesses, praised Mr. Cooper's abilities. But he said a trustee still needs to be appointed to investigate Enron's collapse.

        “Bad things happened here, and they need to be investigated by someone who is not beholden to any of the economic interests and is not hired by any of them,” Mr. Brandt said. “For the public to continue to believe in the bankruptcy system and the capital markets, hard questions have to be asked of powerful people.”

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