The oil boom is back. Devon Energy is giving a $10,000 bonus to every employee!

The oil boom is back. Devon Energy is giving a $10,000 bonus to every employee.

Energy company Devon Energy Corporation has prepared a very pleasant Christmas surprise for its rank-and-file employees: each of them will receive a bonus of $10,000. 

General Manager Rick Muncrief made the announcement to the company's 1,600 employees in early December, adding that every employee below the level of vice president will receive a bonus. The bonuses are a reward for the company's strong financial performance as well as for successfully completing the integration with WPX Energy after the companies agreed to merge last year.

"It's a great bonus to show appreciation for how hard our people have worked, the sacrifices they have made and how they have helped the company," Muncrief said. "I can tell you that the mood in the company right now is up in the air."

Devon is one of America's largest explorers of shale gas and other hydrocarbons. It has been the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 index this year, as its value rose about 185% during 2021 compared with a 25% increase in the market average. But the Oklahoma City-based company is not alone. U.S. oilfield services companies are also making more money than at any time since the shale revolution began more than a decade ago, thanks largely to production mitigation and debt reduction. But the wages of workers at these companies have generally lagged those gains as investors push producers to return more profits to shareholders.

"You often hear people talk about greedy companies, not necessarily oil companies, but any greedy companies - and we're not," Muncrief noted. "We want to make sure we reward our people well."

Devon Energy and WPX Energy announced their merger agreement in September 2020. Then in January 2021, they announced the completion of what they called a "merger of equals," a combination of two companies of roughly equal size and strength. The newly formed company announced a plan to implement an industry-first fixed-plus-variable dividend strategy.

The timing of the completion of the merger was ideal, as the constraints associated with the Covid-19 pandemic began to ease and energy demand began to return to the original levels. WTI crude oil futures, for example, increased by approximately 48% in 2021.