Additionally, the company’s board of directors approved a 13 percent increase in its quarterly common stock dividend beginning in the second quarter of 2019. The new quarterly dividend rate will be $0.09 per share, compared to the prior quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share.
Commitment to $780 Million in Annual Cost Reductions
With Devon’s new, narrowed focus as a U.S. oil business, the company is committed to aligning the cost structure by taking steps to deliver at least $780 million in sustainable annual cost savings by 2021. The cost-reduction plan includes a number of actions to achieve more efficient field-level operations and improvements in drilling and completion costs while better aligning personnel with thego-forward business. Approximately 70 percent of the estimated cost reductions are expected to be accomplished byyear-end 2019, with the remaining savings realized in 2020 and 2021.
“Devon is taking aggressive, meaningful and decisive steps to improve our operational and corporate cost structure,” said Jeff Ritenour, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “The combination of selling higher-cost assets and bringing online new lower cost production, along with our commitment to at least $780 million in annual cost-reductions, is expected to drive downper-unit cash costs more than 20 percent by 2021.”
To underscore the commitment to achieving targeted results, the standing reserves committee of the board of directors will expand its scope of work to include oversight and measurement of progress toward the targets alongside management. The committee is composed of three independent board members, each with strong operational backgrounds.
Positioned for Significant Margin Expansion and Sustainable Long-Term Growth
New Devon’s business is characterized by core of the core positions with significant operating scale in four basins: the Delaware, STACK, Power River and Eagle Ford. In the fourth-quarter of 2018, these assets deliveredlight-oil production growth of 20 percent year over year, with total production averaging 296,000oil-equivalent barrels (Boe) per day. New Devon has operating margins that are 57 percent above the total company average in 2018 and has demonstrated well productivity that has exceeded the industry average by approximately 40 percent over the past three years.
With the steps announced today, the company’s highly concentrated U.S. oil business is expected to generate 13 to 18 percent oil growth in 2019, with 10 percent less upstream capital than 2018, and is self-funded at $46 oil prices (assuming flat service and supply pricing relative to 2018). With this plan, New Devon is now positioned to deliver substantially higher price realizations, significantly improvedper-unit costs, superior operating margins and sustainable long-term growth through its deep inventory of high-caliber oil growth opportunities.
Detailed 2019 Guidance and Three-Year Performance Targets
More detailed information regarding Devon’s retained U.S. oil assets is available within its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings materials available atwww.devonenergy.com. Included within these documents are operating and financial metrics by key asset, detailed guidance for 2019 and updated three-year performance targets for the business.
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