Buoyed by still-elevated crude oil, natural gas and NGL prices — and discipline on capital spending and production growth — U.S. E&Ps have been generating unprecedented cash flow and using much of that bounty to reduce debt, increase dividends and buy back shares. A number of producers have also been investing some of that cash to expand their holdings, mostly to complement their existing acreage in the Permian and other plays and thereby allow for increased efficiency and, in many cases, longer laterals. Few have been doing more in this regard lately than Devon Energy, the Oklahoma City-based E&P, which completed a big bolt-on acquisition in the Bakken in late July and just followed that up with a plan for an even bigger buy in the Eagle Ford. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the company’s strategy.

