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Devon Energy

Devon Energy Corporation is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware with operational headquarters in the 50-story Devon Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its operations are in the Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford Group, and the Rocky Mountains (Williston Basin and Powder River Basin).[1]

The company is ranked 267th on the Fortune 500[2] and 607th on the Forbes Global 2000.[3]

As of December 31, 2025, the company had proved reserves of 2428 e6BOE, of which 40% was petroleum, 30% was natural gas liquids, and 30% was natural gas.[1]

History

Devon was founded in 1971 by John Nichols (1914-2008) and his son, J. Larry Nichols.[4] In 1988, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.[4]

In October 2012, the company completed construction of its current headquarters, the 50-story Devon Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and closed its office in the Allen Center in Downtown Houston.[5]

In February 2016, Devon announced plans to lay off 1,000 employees, including 700 in Oklahoma City, and cut its quarterly dividend to $0.06 per share due to low prices of its products.[6][7] In 2021, it instituted a fixed plus variable dividend structure that resulted in a record high dividend.[8]

Acquisitions

Divestitures

CEOs

  • J. Larry Nichols (1980-2010)
  • John Richels (2010-2015)
  • Dave Hager (2015-2021)[35]
  • Rick Muncrief (2021-2025)
  • Clay Gaspar (2025-)

Political activity

Devon has contributed millions of dollars to politicians and political organizations, almost entirely to organizations and individuals affiliated with the Republican Party.[36]

After agreeing with the Obama administration to install systems to control the illegal emission of hazardous chemicals, Devon backed out of such agreements during the first presidency of Donald Trump due to rollbacks of environmental regulations.[37]

In 2014, an investigation by The New York Times uncovered that a three-page letter signed by Scott Pruitt, then the Attorney General of Oklahoma, to the United States Environmental Protection Agency advocating for a relaxing of laws related to hydraulic fracturing was actually written by lobbyists for Devon Energy and not by Pruitt.[38]

Environmental and legal issues

In November 2019, a blowout at a Devon natural gas well prompted authorities to seal off thousands of acres of land near the Eagle Ford Shale towns of Yorktown, Texas and Nordheim, Texas until the well was capped. It took 35 hours to get the issue under control.[39] The company paid $48,750 in fines for the incident.[40]

In September 2021, the company agreed to pay $6.15 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act of 1863 by underpaying and underreporting royalties for natural gas from federal lands in Wyoming and New Mexico.[41]

External links

References

  1. Devon Energy Corporation 2025 Form 10-K Annual Report United States Securities and Exchange Commission, February 18, 2026^
  2. Fortune: Devon Energy Fortune^
  3. Forbes: Devon Energy Forbes^
  4. Stephen Miller. Former Accountant Worked to Build Devon Energy Into Industry Giant The Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2008^
  5. Olivia Pulsinelli. Devon Energy to close Houston office, will affect 500 employees American City Business Journals, October 11, 2012^
  6. Adam Wilmoth. Devon Energy to lay off 700 in Oklahoma City The Oklahoman, February 16, 2016^
  7. Max B. Baker. Devon Energy cutting 1,000 jobs, slashing dividend Fort Worth Star Telegram, February 17, 2016^
  8. Devon Energy Announces Fixed-Plus-Variable Dividend for GlobeNewswire, May 4, 2021^
  9. Hondo Oil Offer The New York Times, February 29, 1992^
  10. Bob Vandewater. Devon Obtains Kerr-McGee Oil, Gas Properties The Oklahoman, January 1, 1997^
  11. Devon Energy to acquire Canada's Northstar Oil & Gas Journal, July 6, 1998^
  12. Devon Energy and PennzEnergy Announce Completion of Merger U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, August 17, 1999^
  13. Devon Energy and Santa Fe Snyder Complete Merger U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, August 29, 2000^
  14. Devon Energy to acquire Santa Fe Snyder in $3.35 billion deal Oil & Gas Journal, May 26, 2000^
  15. Devon Energy to Acquire Anderson Exploration and Become North America's Largest Independent Producer of Oil and Natural Gas U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, September 4, 2001^
  16. Devon to buy Mitchell Energy for $3.1 billion, boosting gas reserves Oil & Gas Journal, August 14, 2001^
  17. Adam Wilmoth. Devon completes $5.3 billion merger with Ocean Energy; More than 98 percent approve companies' deal The Oklahoman, April 26, 2003^
  18. Devon acquiring Barnett shale acreage from Chief Oil & Gas Journal, May 8, 2006^
  19. Devon Energy Corporation Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2014 United States Securities and Exchange Commission^
  20. Devon, Crosstex Energy complete transaction to create EnLink Midstream March 7, 2014^
  21. Devon’s $2.5 Billion Shale Grab Prompts Downgrade Warnings Bloomberg News, December 7, 2015^
  22. Devon Energy and WPX Energy Complete Merger of Equals Transaction GlobeNewswire, January 7, 2021^
  23. Devon Closes $865 Million Cash Acquisition of RimRock Oil and Gas Hart Energy, July 21, 2022^
  24. Simon Casey. Devon Inks $1.8 Billion Shale Deal to Expand in Eagle Ford Bloomberg News, August 9, 2022^
  25. Devon Energy Completes Strategic Acquisition in the Williston Basin GlobeNewswire, September 27, 2024^
  26. BP pays Devon Energy $7bn for Brazilian, Azeri, and Gulf of Mexico assets The Daily Telegraph, March 11, 2010^
  27. Devon Energy completes sale of Canadian assets The Oklahoman, April 2, 2014^
  28. LINN Energy Announces $2.3 Billion Acquisition of Assets from Devon Energy GlobeNewswire, June 30, 2014^
  29. Anannya Pramanick. Devon to sell oil and gas assets to Linn Energy for $2.3 bln Reuters, June 30, 2014^
  30. Jennifer Hiller. Penn Virginia buys Devon’s Eagle Ford Shale acreage Chron.com, July 31, 2017^
  31. OKC-based Devon Energy agrees to sell noncore assets for $340 million The Oklahoman, July 31, 2017^
  32. Devon Energy Completes Sale of Canadian Business GlobeNewswire, June 27, 2019^
  33. Oilsands giant Canadian Natural inks $3.8B deal for Devon assets CBC News, May 29, 2019^
  34. Devon Energy Completes Sale of Barnett Shale Assets GlobeNewswire, October 2, 2020^
  35. Devon Energy President and CEO, John Richels, to Retire July 31, 2015; Dave Hager, Devon COO, to Succeed Richels Effective Aug. 1, 2015 Devon Energy, December 3, 2014^
  36. Devon Energy: Total Contributions by Party of Recipient OpenSecrets^
  37. Hiroko Tabuchi, Eric Lipton. How Rollbacks at Scott Pruitt's E.P.A. Are a Boon to Oil The New York Times, May 20, 2017^
  38. Eric Lipton. Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General The New York Times, December 6, 2014^
  39. Sergio Chapa. Devon Energy one step away from capping blowout in DeWitt County Houston Chronicle, November 12, 2019^
  40. State fines Devon Energy $97500 for well blowout in rural The Victoria Advocate, July 17, 2021^
  41. Devon Energy Companies Agree to Pay $6.15 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations for Underpaying Royalties on Gas from Federal Lands United States Department of Justice, September 27, 2021^