Could well be Christmas in July for Okla. City-based Devon Energy, now a pledged member of The Billion Dollar Consolidation Club. The company has taken a lot of heat this year from the financial community finger-pointing missed opportunities amid the smokin’ stampede of mega mergers to build inventory. Now Devon says, “Chill, bro. We got this.”

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest news from Devon, whose CEO Rick Muncrief made clear back in May he was in no rush to hop aboard the land-grab frenzy. If one is inclined to cut through all the noise, quiet consideration can well help determine if a deal is the right one. And Devon has found it in Houston-based, EnCap-backed Grayson Mill Energy in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5 billion.

The acquisition comes close to tripling Devon’s position in the Williston Basin, adding 307,000 net acres to its 1Q reported 123,000; 100 MBOED in production; and 950 miles of gathering systems and other midstream assets. The company also operates in the Powder River, Anadarko, and Eagle Ford, along with more than 400,000 net acres in the Permian Delaware—the latter bringing home the bacon in 1Q to the tune of 66% of total revenues, and where Devon is expected to spend a near equal percentage of its 2024 CAPEX.

That strategy’s unlikely to change post-acquisition. While Muncrief plans to hold its Williston production in the Bakken and Three Forks for the “foreseeable future,” make no mistake that Devon will be plotting development of the decade’s worth of inventory its early holiday gift brings to the company party.