With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

Energy sector dominated this year for the first time since 2008, with 28 companies featured on the list.

100 Fastest-Growing Companies

Industries included in the sector are mining, oil and gas exploration and services, pipelines, refining, and utilities.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Energy

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

World's Most Admired Companies

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

Our 2018 list of the 100 best companies as ranked by their employees. See which companies made the list.

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

This year’s list marks Fortune's 18th year of partnering with Great Place to Work. Google ranks No.1 for the sixth time, and 16 new companies make impressive debuts, including Acuity (No. 3), Twitter (No. 24), and Riot Games (No. 13).

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

The inaugural list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials from our partners at Great Place to Work includes surprising newcomer Power Home Remodeling, making an impressive debut at No. 1. Other standouts include Chili’s Grill and Bar (no. 11), Elevation Church (No. 34), and Yelp (No. 41).

BEST COMPANIES 2015  Devon Energy

<p class="p1">Devon Energy is an oil industry giant, bringing in revenues of $7.7 billion annually. Despite the company’s heft, employees describe a work environment that is friendly with an almost small-town feel. Workers are on a first-name basis with executives, and the company headquarters features an on-site gym and a medical facility that’s open to employees and their families. Employees are encouraged to volunteer, an example set by the CEO himself who plays an annual concert to raise money for children’s music lessons, and are rewarded for giving of their time. “The company values a good work-life balance and gives meaningful work to all of its employees,” said one worker. “I definitely feel that I can add value to the company every time I step into the building.” <a style="color:#ec412e;" href="http://us.greatrated.com/devon-energy" target="_blank">Read the Great Place to Work review.</a></p>

100 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials

Google tops the list once again, marking its eighth appearance and fifth time as No. 1.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

Perks

100% health coverage

Unlimited sick days

Telecommuting

Job sharing

Subsidized childcare

Compressed work weeks

Fully-paid sabbaticals

On-site fitness/subsidized gym

On-site medical care facility

Non-discrimination policy includes sexual orientation

Health insurance for part-timers

Sick days for part-timers

College tuition reimbursement

Student loan debt repayment

Medical facility at all locations

Paid Time Off

PTO limit (days)

Compensation

Most common job (for salaried employee)

Avg. base pay (salaried)

Avg. extra compensation (salaried)

Total pay for most common job (salaried)

Hiring/staffing (past 12 Months)

Full-time and part-time job growth

# of job applicants

Avg. # of applicants per opening

FT voluntary turnover

Jobs filled internally

Jobs filled by referral

# New graduates hired

Sector

Industry

Industry Rank

Previous Industry Rank

Overall Score

Innovation

People Management

Use of Corporate Assets

Social Responsibility

Quality of Management

Financial Soundness

Long-Term Investment Value

Quality of Products/Services

Global Competitiveness

Company Info

City

Founded

Type of org

Revenue ($)

Web Address

Global employee headcount

Best Companies rank

Millennials as % of total workforce

Fastest-growing Companies

Revenue 3 Yr Growth Rank

Revenue 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

EPS 3 Yr Growth Rank

EPS 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

Total Return 3 Yr Rank

Total Return 3 Yr Annual Rate

Beat S&P 500 3 Yr Return

Current Streak

Years on List

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

Revenues ($M)

Profits ($M)

Assets ($M)

Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

Profits as % of Assets

Profits as % of Stockholder Equity

Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

Earnings Per Share ($)

EPS % Change (from prior fiscal year)

EPS % Change (5 year annual rate)

EPS % Change (10 year annual rate)

Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

Total Return to Investors (5 year, annualized)

Total Return to Investors (10 year, annualized)

Devon Energy is an independent U.S. exploration and production company that extracts oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The shale powerhouse is focused in five main areas: the Delaware Basin located in southeast New Mexico and west Texas, the Eagle Ford in south Texas, the Anadarko Basin in western Oklahoma, the Williston Basin in North Dakota, and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Devon was founded in 1971.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Q2 2025

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Devon Energy (DVN): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

legacy

Devon Energy

devon energy

Welcome to Devon Energy's Fourth Quarter twenty twenty four Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. This call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Ms. Rosie Zuklick, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the call today. Last night, we issued Devon's fourth quarter earnings release and presentation materials. Throughout the call today, we will make references to these materials to support prepared remarks. The release and slides can be found in the Investors section of the Devon website. Joining me on the call today are Rick Muncrief, President and Chief Executive Officer Clay Gaspar, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Ritenour, Chief Financial Officer John Raines, SVP, Asset Management Tom Hellman, SVP, E and P Operations and Trey Lowe, SVP, Technology and Chief Technology Officer.

As a reminder, this conference call will include forward looking statements as defined under U. S. Securities laws. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our forecast. Please refer to the cautionary language and risk factors provided in our SEC filings and earnings materials.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rick.

Thank you, Rosie. Appreciate everyone taking the time to join us this morning. I'm very proud to report that Devin ended 2024 with exceptionally strong results. Let's start with Slide two. We had outstanding operational performance, which underpinned the robust financial outcomes and significant free cash flow generation.

This success is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team. We produced record volumes, delivered 154% proved replacement reserve replacement ratio and made nice strides on continuing our resource assessment of our existing assets. We generated $3,000,000,000 of free cash flow, of which we returned $2,000,000,000 of that to our shareholders. Consistent with our strategic priority of delivering value to shareholders through a sustainable, annually growing fixed dividend, This month, our board approved an increase to $0.24 per share. This represents a 9% improvement over the twenty twenty four rate.

And to fortify our advantaged portfolio even more, we executed the Williston Basin acquisition this past year and it is performing quite nicely. Throughout the year, we've maintained financial strength with ample liquidity and low leverage. We're well positioned for the future. You'll hear more from details from Clay and Jeff in a few moments. For me, it's been an honor to lead this company for the past four years, serving our shareholders, our Board of Directors and our dedicated employees.

Together, we've built a very strong company with a solid foundation for future success. I want to thank everyone for their trust and support. I look forward to watching the company's continued achievements under Clay's capable leadership and have complete confidence in him and his management team. I look forward to the many organic catalyst they will continue to create by remaining true to Devon's values and remaining focused on its strategic priorities. And with that, I'll now turn it over to Clay.

Thank you, Rick. I've always appreciated your guidance, mentorship and insight, and I'm truly grateful for your confidence. Good morning, everyone. Let's start on Slide three, where I can cover the outstanding fourth quarter results. For the fifth quarter in a row, we have again beaten consensus and delivered outsized returns to our shareholders.

Fourth quarter oil production reached an all time high of 398,000 barrels per day. Fourth quarter production outperformance was largely driven by the timing and productivity of our Eagle Ford wells. A second major contributor was from the acquired Grayson Mill assets confirming how well that integration is going. The newly combined Rockies team is doing a fantastic job of learning from each other and creating additional value. From a capital perspective, we also had an outstanding quarter.

This performance was primarily driven by the good work of the Delaware team. In addition, lower workover costs combined with higher volumes drove our per unit expenses significantly lower, boosting our margins and free cash flow generation. Thanks to our strong operating performance, we generated seven thirty eight million dollars in free cash flow, of which we returned $444,000,000 to shareholders via our fixed dividend and share repurchase program. We strongly believe that Devon presents a compelling investment opportunity, and thus, we leaned into our share repurchase program this quarter by buying $300,000,000 of Devon stock. Additionally, we strengthened our financial position by building cash this quarter to about $850,000,000 up 25% from last quarter.

Now let's turn to Slide four and talk about some of the exciting news related to the Eagle Ford. On January 31, Devon and BPX signed an agreement to dissolve our partnership in the Blackhawk field. We expect to close on April 1, at which time we will hold approximately 46,000 Blackhawk net acres with greater than 95% working interest in these assets, primarily in DeWitt County. This will be a high quality, high working interest, fully controlled and concentrated position. After close, we will have approximately 700 undrilled locations remaining in the Eagle Ford, 5 50 of which will be in the Blackhawk Field.

This is nearly a decade of drilling inventory at the current pace. A key value driver for us to dissolve this JV was that we are confident that we can save more than $2,000,000 in D and C cost per well with improved well design, supply chain and application of operational technology from our other basins. The combination of this cost reduction and control of the go forward development significantly enhances returns and provides a material uplift to the NPV of our position. Now let's turn to Slide five and talk about the updated and improved 2025 outlook. Moving forward, we remain committed to creating value to our shareholders with disciplined investment and growth per share basis.

You should also note that we're bumping our 2025 production and reducing our capital from the soft guy that we provided on the last call. We now expect to deliver 815,000 BOE per day, including 800 excuse me, 383,000 barrels of oil per day. For capital, we expect to invest $3,900,000,000 or $200,000,000 lower than the soft guidance we provided back in November. We expect these improvements to drive more than $300,000,000 in additional free cash flow this year. As displayed on the right side of the slide, these numbers add up to a very impressive capital efficiency as compared to our peers of this highly competitive industry.

Turning to Slide six. Let's discuss the 2025 outlook from an asset perspective. The Delaware Basin will account for greater than 50% of our total investment for the year. We expect another year of strong performance and plan to operate 14 rigs and three completion crews while bringing online about two sixty five gross wells. As we have touched on in the past, we are leaning into a higher allocation of multi zone projects as compared to historical levels, allowing us to balance rate of return, NPV and inventory.

Based on the success of 2024, we see tremendous benefits from the multi zone developments by minimizing depletion effects between depleted dependent zones, feathering in de risk secondary targets and results that yield a more robust and sustainable inventory over time. An area that I've been extremely impressed with is our ability to continue to find ways to accelerate our operational efficiencies. In 2024, we saw about 15% improvement in both our feet drilled and completed feet per day metrics. This operational efficiency drives higher well returns and free cash flow generation. For 2025, I expect this momentum to continue, and I'm excited to see additional value creation from this work.

Shifting to the Rockies. We possess a unique combination of assets that can provide growth and free cash flow. Approximately threefour of The Rockies capital spend will be directed towards the Williston Basin. With the impressive results to date, strong progress on the integration and a long inventory runway, most of the capital will be focused on the Western part of the Williston Basin. We believe that this three rig program balances flat production, impressive returns and an impressive inventory life.

Since taking over the Grayson Mill asset, the organization has identified many opportunities to further enhance our investment. In just a few months since closing, we've already identified $50,000,000 in capital and expense savings for the year, fully capturing our announced synergy target. We're not done and expect additional savings on operating expenses as well as capital savings. The early wins of $600,000 in savings per well on D and C cost tie back to the drilling and completion pace, supply chain wins and leveraging operational improvements such as self sourcing sand and simulfrag. In the Anadarko Basin, the past few years have benefited from the Dow JV, which was set to end mid-twenty twenty five.

With the success of this partnership, we have agreed to extend the JV for another 49 drilling locations for $40,000,000 in drilling carry. Activity for the new agreement is planned to start in the second quarter of this year. Turning to Slide seven. And before I hand the call off to Jeff, I want to address a common question that I've been asked since the leadership change was announced, and that is, what will be different for Devon going forward? If I had to capture the transition in two words, it would be continuity and opportunity.

As many of you know, Rick and I have worked together for over ten years and come from a similar background. Together, we built a strong foundation for Devon and we're both excited about the next chapter for this great company. Under continuity, I see continuing to focus on the following. First, Devon's strategic priorities and values will continue to be central for the company. Second, operating excellence will remain foundational.

In order to succeed in this industry, we must deliver on the fundamental aspects of how we convert resource to value. And third, we remain committed to delivering value to our shareholders and maintaining a fortress balance sheet. We will continue to deliver sustainable, growing fixed dividend as well as executing on our share repurchase program. As far as the opportunity, I see several needle moving prospects. First, we will focus inward to further improve our capital efficiency and margin expansion.

Second, we will enhance our base production and organically expand our deep inventory. Third, we will further embrace our value creating technology across the company and promote innovative thinking from our outstanding employees. We are already working on several value focused opportunities and you will hear more about this in the coming quarters. With that, I'll now hand the call over to Jeff.

now to Slide eight to talk about our gas portfolio. With upward momentum in natural gas pricing, we see significant upside from our natural gas resource and wanted to highlight the value potential of our diverse portfolio. Although today, our capital is largely allocated to oil projects driven by returns, the associated gas production and untapped natural gas resource underlying our acreage position provides a significant upside opportunity. As highlighted on the slide, we produce more than 1,300,000,000 cubic feet per day of natural gas and with the move higher in pricing, our natural gas revenue will more than double year over year. With the majority of gas production residing in the Delaware, our marketing team has done an exceptional job of diversifying our exposure to maximize value.

Through a variety of arrangements, a large portion of our Delaware gas has access to Gulf Coast markets and pricing, driven by growing industrial and LNG demand. For the remaining Delaware production exposed to in basin pricing, we've utilized regional basin swaps for protection. This strategy helps us mitigate risk and stabilize our revenue streams. In the Anadarko Basin, our gas has access to Southeastern markets, which have recently traded at a premium to Henry Hub prices as more and more companies point their molecules to the Gulf Coast. We expect increased demand for our gas in the Southeast as the need for power moves higher in this growing region of the country.

And we're always looking for new demand outlets for natural gas volumes. We have an experienced and innovative marketing team that are actively assessing LNG, power producer and data center supply opportunities. We look forward to sharing specifics on these opportunities as they develop and firm up over the coming year. To summarize, while our primary focus remains on oil, our gas portfolio offers significant optionality and value. Our marketing and risk management efforts ensure that we're well positioned to capitalize on growing demand and favorable market conditions.

Turning to slide nine, as Clay said earlier, there's no change on our commitment to delivering value to shareholders while maintaining our financial strength. For 2025, we're targeting up to 70% cash return payout for shareholders from generated free cash flow at current strip pricing. Our cash returns will be delivered via our growing fixed dividend and share repurchases. Effective in the first quarter, the quarterly dividend is increasing to $0.24 and we expect a cadence of about $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 a quarter for share repurchases throughout the year. The balance of our free cash flow will accrue to the balance sheet for further debt pay down as we aim to drive our net debt to EBITDA ratio below one times and build upon our investment grade financial strength.

With that, I'll now turn the call back to Rosie for Q and A.

Thanks, Jeff. We ask that everyone limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. So Emily, we are ready to take our first question.

Thank you. Our first question comes from Scott Hanold with RBC. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Yes. Thanks. Hey, guys. Strong quarter and Rick, congrats on the retirement and play on the promotion. Maybe I'm going to start with the Grace and Mills.

It seems like there's been some strong outperformance here over the last couple of quarters and it seems like you've got a lot of focus on that asset here in 2025. Could you remind us the inventory duration you see within the Grayson Mills asset and sort of how that compares with your sort of legacy Bakken?

Yes, Scott. Thanks for the kind words. It's a great time for Devon, and I know Rick and I are fully aligned on the best times are still yet ahead. Specifically, Grayson, I think this is an important acquisition for Devon to just absolutely stick. When I think back on our portfolio pre Grayson, we had a hole in the portfolio.

We were not shy about admitting that. We have a great Williston Team. We're really excited about the brand that we had built within that basin and what it could allow us to do, but objectively, we were just short on inventory. Grayson really filled that inventory. And secondarily, we needed to absolutely nail the execution.

And so we've done that. We've seen costs come down. We've seen that productivity stay up. What we've guided the street towards is we're not going to run at the same pace of the previous Grayson team, so we'll see that productivity excuse me, the production and absolute rate come down a little bit over time. What we've seen from both the cost side and the productivity side is that base decline has flattened out, these productivity of these wells have continued to improve.

And now what we're saying is this runway that run rate that we are experiencing today is we think much more sustainable at the level we're at and that runway continues to expand. There's more organic things to do, trades, zero cost opportunities to further expand that runway, but we're approaching close to a decade of opportunity in the Williston Basin now, including Grayson. So we're really excited about where that position fits in our portfolio.

Appreciate that. And as my follow-up question, it's going to be on the Eagle Ford split with BPX. Could you give us a little bit of color on some of the background regarding that? How did you all think about splitting the assets? And did you guys, I guess, look for more inventory versus PDP?

Could you just tell us how that allocation back and forth went?

Yes, it's interesting. I mean, I think this is a classic win win opportunity. When I summarize it and we've displayed a map, when you think about the assets that BPX is going to inherit and then the assets that we inherit, objectively, they valued more of those assets than we do. And we have valued more of the assets that we're going to inherit. And so there was a natural accretion associated mutual accretion associated with this deal.

I think above and beyond that, I think about our ability to control pace, to really direct the operations. And then as I pointed out in the prepared remarks, we see material operational improvement and we've already displayed that. We've got since we're taking over the rig, we have one well down, we have another well exactly on pace where we thought it should be And that yields more than $2,000,000 per well in value creation straight from the top on all the remaining opportunities ahead, which obviously is a massive needle mover.

The next question comes from Neal Dingmann with Truist. Neal, please go ahead.

Again, Rick, just congrats on a stellar career and Clay look forward to continuing to run the ship. And guys, my first question, really just a little bit was asked earlier on the Bakken and I guess what you're calling the Rockies now specifically. Clay, I've noticed appropriately you've stepped up the CapEx a little bit. I think you're saying around $1,000,000,000 with four rigs. And I'm just wondering given your planned focus here on Grayson Mills and think the continued operation efficiencies, do you anticipate potentially seeing more growth here later in the year?

Or is the plan just to kind of to keep things stable? What ideally would you like to see here?

Yes. Good point on the Rockies versus the Williston and Powder. We've combined those. We think it simplifies the story. It really is interesting assets.

So we've got the legacy Williston position. We have the Grayson Williston position and and then we have the legacy Powder position. And so, really, when we think about overall Williston excuse me, let's start with Grayson. When we think about Grayson, it's pretty it's going to be pretty flat to where it's at now. We're going to run three rigs there.

We see efficiencies we were talking about, not just in the capital cost, but the timing associated with that. That certainly helps productivity yield really nice capital efficiency. When we flip down to the powder and we start looking at that asset, that was an interesting one. I think that one's again, having more support of not needing that asset today allows that team to do a little bit more of the science work to really unlock that potential. And I think it has a tremendous part of our value as we think forward and where it fits in the portfolio in coming years.

No. I'd love to hear it and look forward to seeing what you're going to do there. And then secondly, just on the Delaware operation specifically, you all continue to I think it's demonstrated how efficient the program continues to be there. I'm just wondering, what's noticeable is versus maybe some others is that your midstream infrastructure situation appears to continue to be very strong with no takeaway issues. And I'm just wondering, is this performance largely due to contracts?

Is it I know you've got some good surfs acreage that you've taken care of in the past. I mean, what is again, been able to efficiently drive this premier takeaway?

Hey, Neil, this is Jeff. Yes, you're exactly right. We've done a lot of work over the last couple of years. Our marketing team and the business unit collectively together working with our third party providers on making sure that we've got the gathering, we've got the processing capacity that we need and then ultimately the takeaway as it relates to both the gas NGLs and oil. So that's been a really big team effort over the last couple of years.

You go back two or three years ago there were certainly some more challenges in the basin. Today we feel really good about the position that we're in and really don't see any roadblocks on that front. So, feel really good about our ability to move the gas. I should mention as well water is not a light issue that the team is absolutely focused on as well. And so combined they've done a really great job to make sure that we've got the takeaway that we need for all those products and excited about the pricing improvement that we've seen just over the last six months in that basin.

The next question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good morning, team. And Rick, congrats on an amazing forty five year career. And Clay, congratulations to you. And Clay, maybe that's a good place to kick off.

A couple of times in the prepared remarks, you talked about the organic opportunity set. Are we reading into your early strategy as you step into the CEO role to really pursue more of an organic versus an M and A focused strategy and that the optimal thing to be buying back here is your own stock versus incremental assets?

Yes, Neal, thanks for the comments again. And I think you're reading that right. I just see real tremendous value creation kind of underfoot the portfolio we have today. And that can come in many different forms. I mean, small land trades that will never make the earnings presentations to more material things like we just announced with VPX.

Those are real massive value creation opportunities that are typically no cash out the door. In addition to that, we think about the technology application. Flattening the base decline on our business is a massive opportunity.

tell you that the teams that are working on things like artificial lift and really applying kind of real time diagnostics to those opportunities is, again, hard to put and describe on a slide, but have the biggest value creation opportunities as we think about the coming decade and beyond for the organization. So, really excited about that. Objectively, look, we're always going to stay close. We believe in consolidation. If there's a right opportunity for us, we'll remain open to that.

But I think our primary focus is just making Devon a heck of a lot better Devon.

That's very clear. And then Clay, just a follow-up on Slide four and DeWitt in particular and Eagle Ford. Can you just talk about why you think ultimately the partnership dissolution makes sense? How we should think about the uplift in value? And where does it ultimately come from?

Is it from volumes? Is it from capital efficiency? And or is it about how you ultimately prosecute this acreage?

the list as we run the waterfall and think about the value creation for us, there's no doubt about it. Saving $2,000,000 plus per well off the top is roughly about $2,000,000 in NPV per every single well out there. So, it's that's a real opportunity for us and certainly is the headline approach for us. But controlling the pace is really valuable as we think about how quick these wells we drill these wells in seven days. And so, being able to control that when we need to, being able to back off when we have the opportunity to to.

I know refracs aren't the hottest topic de jure, but I can tell you there is real material value. And as we see more and more value creation from this what we call as magic rock, it continues to yield more and more opportunities and that's what we're really excited about. But again, I'll reiterate, I think this is a mutual win win. Sometimes you bring together these joint ventures and you see the opportunities there. By the same token, opportunities can change, evaluations can change, technology can change, motivations can change and it can be time to dissolution.

I mean, a similar analogy is selling midstream assets and buying midstream assets back in, both can be right at the given time. I would say when I think about the BPX opportunity, this is the right move for them now and this is the right move for us now.

The next question comes from Arun Jayaram with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Good morning, gentlemen. I was wondering if

maybe highlight yes, good morning. I wanted to see if you could highlight the strong sequential performance in the Eagle Ford, I think your volumes were up over 20% sequentially. The well count didn't seem like that was the driver. So maybe just help us understand kind of what drove that and thoughts on kind of sustaining that above 90 MBOE per day kind of figures we think about 2025 because it was the key driver I think of the beat as you highlighted?

Yes, Arun, thanks for the question. I want to commend the team on the incredibly value creating work around D and C efficiency. That's where some of this starts and the compounding effect of just shaving off time on the drilling side, on the completion side, we highlighted that in 2024. We've certainly seen some of those benefits there. I think as we move into the driver's seat on those operational efficiencies, I think it will take a different pace and really add a whole different level of opportunity.

Also from the production side, again, these wells, we continue to see incremental value creation even as we space these wells in what looks like fully developed DSUs. We can subsequently bring additional wells in, stimulate these and this rock continues to produce and continue to give back to us. One thing I want to caution you on is, we did bring on a significant amount of wells in the fourth quarter early in the quarter. And so, there's a little bit of tailwind on that that's probably not fully, we're able to replicate every quarter going forward. So, I would caution you a little bit on extrapolating the fourth quarter runway run rate.

But certainly, the operational momentum, the savvy, the hard work that the team is doing, I feel like we're about to grab another gear on, so hang on.

Great, great. Maybe a follow-up is for Jeff. Jeff, if we do the math around, call it, $250,000,000 of buybacks per quarter, maybe up to $300,000,000 based on your $3,000,000,000 free cash flow number that you put the deck, that would imply returning somewhere between 53% to 60% of your free cash flow. Understanding that you use buybacks maybe to be opportunistically, but is it the intention to maybe return a little bit or to focus a little bit on the balance sheet versus cash return in 2025? Just going through the math around that.

Yes. I appreciate the question Arun. Actually, it's one of the things we're talking a lot about with the internal focus that Clay has described this morning. Really that's all a function of us driving our breakevens lower. And so what we're really excited about is obviously that makes it that much easier for us to sustain and grow our fixed dividend and it also allows us to reevaluate that share repurchase range that we've laid out the $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 So as we work our way through the year as Clay just mentioned we catch another gear and we start to see these efficiencies continue to build into our numbers.

I think that we'll likely reevaluate that range and absolutely see the potential for that to move higher as we work our way through the year. Now that being said, we do have a $2,500,000,000 debt reduction target that we've laid out there last year. We've already hit $500,000,000 of that last quarter with the maturities that came due in 2024. We'll have another $500,000,000 this year of maturities and then we've got our $1,000,000,000 term loan coming due next year. And so we'll have ample opportunities to pay down debt And we agree with you with the cash flow, the free cash flow projection that we're looking at today, the efficiencies that we're seeing work their way into the numbers.

We think there's upside on our ability on the cash returns to shareholders specifically on the share repurchases.

Rick, I wanted to wish you the best as you approach retirement. I've enjoyed all the war stories with you over the years and hearing about how the industry has evolved. And Clay, it's also great to see you in the CEO seat and remember our time together as we used to follow Anadarko, but best wishes to both of you.

Arun, thank you very much. Those are kind comments to both of us. Best wishes to you in the future as well, buddy.

The next question comes from Paul Cheng with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

Kay, just trying to understand that when you dissolve the JV with DP, you're saying that you're going to save the cost by about $2,000,000 per well. And from a design standpoint, I mean, as a JV, you are the partner. And is there any maybe bottleneck or hurdle that you disallow you to achieve those savings all along?

I I'm trying to understand that, I mean, exactly how that why just dissolving it all of a sudden that we will be able to seeing the $2,000,000 saving? The second question is on the Terra. I think last year that you did about two thirty wells and then before that, like 200 a little bit less than two forty wells. So you're now doing two fifty to two seventy. One we think that as a result, your production for 2025 maybe is going to be higher than what we suggest in the guidance.

Devon Energy (DVN) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Company Participants