Download Devon's 2007 CSR Report in PDF format (PDF-1,040k)
What counts in business is not only what you do, but how you do it. Drive and intelligence are important, but without integrity, companies fail. It is a philosophy that has guided Devon for more than 35 years. As an energy company, it is our role to operate in ways that are sustainable for the environment and compatible with the communities where we work. By promoting a healthy environment and prosperous communities, we lay the groundwork for success as a company.
We hope you find our first corporate social responsibility report to be a useful and compelling presentation of Devon’s personality as an energy producer and a good neighbor. While publishing a social responsibility report is new to Devon, environmental stewardship, safety, community outreach and sound corporate governance have always been fundamental.
These are issues that are important to investors, employees, neighbors and the long list of other stakeholders who are interested in how we do business. We are grateful for the time you take to review the pages of our report, to learn our values as a company and to see how we put our commitment to corporate citizenship into action.
TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS
Since 1971, we have built Devon on a solid foundation of values and business principles. Hard work, enterprise and perseverance have allowed us to overcome the challenges of an industry known for high risk and volatility.
Through our history, we have seen prosperity and hard times, and we have learned from both. Our focus on long-term goals, lasting relationships and sustainable business practices has been a key to success regardless of oil and natural gas prices.
While a company’s goals, relationships and business practices are not always reflected on the balance sheet, we believe they eventually show up on the bottom line.
We value our employees as well as our integrity, teamwork, achievement, entrepreneurial spirit, and community involvement. Together, they create the energy a company needs to continue prospering in the face of challenges and downturns.
This report is intended to highlight our achievements and objectives as an energy company, a good neighbor and an environmental steward. You will read about Devon’s operations in North America and around the world. You will get a glimpse of the company’s solid position in a very competitive energy industry, and you will discover our heritage as a pioneer in emerging oil and natural gas plays.
We will explain why our employees are the company’s most valuable asset and we will illustrate a safety record that consistently wins recognition for high achievement. You will learn about our efforts in the United States and Canada to promote conservation of water, land and habitat, and you will read about community outreach initiatives adjacent to our operations in North America and overseas.
We invite you to focus on our emission reduction programs in the United States and Canada. Our constant search for new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has earned the company repeated recognition from government agencies for high achievement.
We are committed to being good corporate citizens. From our field offices in diverse locations such as Lafayette, Louisiana, and Fort St. John, British Columbia, to our corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, Devon has many friends and neighbors. Our community of stakeholders reaches beyond shareholders, royalty owners, employees and government agencies. As a corporate citizen, we reach out to public institutions, nonprofit organizations and the millions of people who live in the communities where we do business. We respect their needs, and have created this report to illustrate how Devon co-exists within the framework of this large family.
As these pages highlight our role as a social and environmental steward, we hope you will see a clear picture of what we value most at Devon: our character.
J. Larry Nichols
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
WHO WE ARE
Devon is one of the world’s leading independent oil and natural gas producers, with operations that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater to the polar reaches of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Devon also has a presence in some of the world’s most important oil-producing regions, such as Azerbaijan, Brazil and China.
While we have grown rapidly at times, we have focused on building the company in a sustainable way, using discipline to identify opportunities that create value for our shareholders. Devon’s roots are firmly planted in Oklahoma, surrounded by a rich heritage that began a century ago with discoveries that captured the country’s imagination. World-class oil fields near Cushing, Healdton, Drumright, Seminole and even Oklahoma City established the state as one of the world’s premier oil producers through the early 20th century.
Oklahoma City was fertile ground in 1971 for a young start-up named for Devonshire County in southwest England. Devon began with five natural gas wells in east Texas and has prospered through boom times and persevered through downturns. The company has grown through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions as well as a pioneering approach to exploration drilling.
While we have a strong international exploration and production portfolio, the company’s operations are weighted toward North American natural gas and oil. We are a major natural gas producer in North America with substantial production in a large number of regions, including Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, the Gulf of Mexico and Alberta, Canada.
Pioneer
The company is a pioneer in the production of natural gas from unconventional reservoirs such as coal and shale. In 1989, Devon became one of the first companies to produce coalbed natural gas from the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Through our work, we helped demonstrate that gas could be produced in an economical way from coal formations deep below the surface. Today, coalbed natural gas is a major energy source for the United States, and Devon has expanded its coalbed production beyond New Mexico to fields in Wyoming, Oklahoma and Alberta.
Through the company’s acquisition of Mitchell Energy in 2002, Devon became a forerunner in developing natural gas production from black shale in the Barnett Shale field near Fort Worth, Texas. Devon remains the dominant producer in the Barnett, which has become the largest gas field in Texas and one of the nation’s most prolific gas plays. With the growth of production in the Barnett, Devon and other producers have applied what we have learned in north Texas to open other shale plays across the country.
In a world where the margin between oil supply and demand is increasingly thin, Devon is among the industry’s leaders in pushing the technological limits of oil exploration and development. We are the only U.S. independent actively engaged in Canada’s oil sands. The vast deposits in eastern Alberta hold petroleum reserves that rival Saudi Arabia in size. However, the heavy, tar-like oil has unique characteristics that pose technical challenges. For several years, Devon was involved in early oil sands production using Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage or SAGD technology to extract the oil embedded in sands more than a thousand feet below the surface.
Devon has also ventured into waters more than a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico to explore the frontiers of the offshore. The company and its partners have drilled to record-breaking depths to tap into major oil and natural gas reservoirs that were beyond the industry’s reach a decade ago. The company’s extensive inventory of prospects in the deep Gulf comprises more than a million acres, making it one of the Gulf’s largest leaseholders. Devon is unlocking this frontier with a new generation of drill ships, advanced seismic technology and production platform innovations. As a forerunner in the deepwater, we are combining our financial strength and our technical know-how to reach targets six miles below the ocean’s surface.
Balance
The company’s tradition of entrepreneurialism has resulted in substantial success over the years. Devon has evolved from a company with five wells and four full-time employees to one with more than 30,000 wells and 4,700 employees. Devon is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. We produce more than 200 million barrels of oil equivalent per year from reserves of more than two billion barrels of oil equivalent. But financial success and production volume are only part of our story. At Devon, we balance our size against our value as an investment, our character as an employer and our performance as a corporate citizen.
GOVERNANCE
Strong corporate governance is fundamental at Devon because our approach to business starts with ethics and integrity. While the role of corporate governance is prominent in today’s age of higher standards of accountability, its importance has a long history at Devon. This history began with Devon’s founders, who set a tone of integrity as they built the organization.
Citizenship
As a testament to Devon’s history of strong corporate governance, the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 required us to make virtually no changes in the way we do business. In fact, we have always maintained the practices of documentation and disclosure at Devon. We simply formalized corporate practices and procedures that had been in place since Devon’s inception.
With our foundation of strong corporate governance, we continually strive to be a good corporate citizen. We take our fiduciary responsibilities to our investors seriously. Our goal is to maintain strong ethical and professional standards and to impart them to our officers, directors and employees.
Devon’s board of directors assists us in attaining our goals. They provide decision-making and advisory support and help uphold the integrity and standards of the company through their moral and professional ideals. Our directors are proven leaders with distinguished records of accomplishment inside and outside of the energy industry. Each director brings personality and ideas to the table, and as a group the board applies input from others to enhance the company’s performance.
Our directors are fully engaged in the challenges facing the company, and they are passionate in their pursuit of Devon’s long-term success as an energy company and its goal of growing value for shareholders.
Leadership
Our board’s reserves committee is an example of how Devon’s dedication to integrity starts at the top. Oil and gas reserves in the ground form the core of an energy company’s ultimate worth. Therefore, the accuracy of our reserve estimate is essential to our credibility with the public and the investment community. That is why Devon takes an aggressive approach to oversight, extending beyond traditional reviews by internal and external engineering consultants.
The company has established a reserves committee composed of three board members who have technical backgrounds in the industry. The committee ensures the reliability of the process and oversees the evaluation of Devon’s reserves. This represents an additional layer of oversight that sets Devon apart as a forerunner among energy producers.
Integrity
Integrity is the cornerstone of our core values. It is just as vital to the company’s success as our technical talent and our entrepreneurial spirit. Our leadership built Devon on a foundation of trust and honesty, and integrity remains at the center of the company’s culture. Expectations are reinforced through our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which are reviewed and acknowledged each year by all of our employees. The code and its supplemental policies outline critical aspects of expected corporate behavior such as protection of private information, trading in Devon’s securities, accounting practices, conflicts of interest, disclosure issues and receipt of gifts.
The code is another illustration of our commitment to doing business the right way. We express that resolve from our board of directors and our governance policies all the way down to the way we conduct ourselves in the field. Trust and honesty were at the foundation of the company when Devon was established, and it remains at the heart of our business today.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
At Devon, we are geoscientists, engineers, lease operators, administrative assistants and accountants. We are also youth league coaches, school board members, tutors, mentors and volunteers.
The role we play in the communities where we operate goes beyond lease holder, well operator and employer. A portion of the tax revenues we generate help fund local schools and emergency responders. Our employees shop in local stores, vote for local candidates and attend local churches.
We strive to enhance the quality of life in the communities where we operate through support of youth and education programs, social service initiatives, the arts, cultural programs and civic initiatives. Healthy communities are good for business, and strong businesses promote healthy communities. That is why community involvement is one of Devon’s core values.
Involvement
Our employees tutor and mentor inner-city students in Oklahoma City and Houston. We support Habitat for Humanity projects in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. Our employees touch neighbors through an outreach program that features employee “ambassadors” to the communities where we operate. Our ambassadors talk to civic groups about Devon’s role in the energy industry and they join community projects. They are active as city council members, volunteer firefighters and fill many other civic roles. Our ambassadors stop to answer questions about the company and the industry, whether they are in the grocery store on a Saturday morning or in a café during lunch hour.
The relationships we build with our communities grow through active involvement. We hold open houses at our local field offices so the public can meet us and learn about what we do and how we do it. We share our plans for the future and circulate newsletters to keep our neighbors informed.
As the founding sponsor of the “Wise Eyes” crime watch program, Devon works with law enforcement to encourage community involvement in crime prevention. Under Wise Eyes, county sheriffs and police departments establish communication networks that make it easier for private citizens to report crimes or suspicious activities in their communities. The program began in Wise County, Texas, in 1993 and has expanded to numerous other counties in Texas as well as New Mexico, Wyoming and Louisiana.
In Canada, Devon’s community outreach program includes an aboriginal relations initiative built on a foundation of awareness and open communication. Devon promotes positive and productive relationships with aboriginal communities by supporting cross-cultural awareness as well as education, training and career development programs.
Devon’s “Trades in Motion” program brings the classroom to students and provides opportunities for training that can lead to higher-paying jobs in aboriginal communities. Devon’s proactive approach to aboriginal relations in Canada was recognized in 2006 by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce. The organization honored Devon by naming the company a finalist for the Aboriginal Relations Best Practices Award.
As a corporation, Devon pledges millions of dollars each year to support cultural institutions such as the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma History Center and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The company funds new construction and scholarship programs at higher learning institutions, such as the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, The University of Texas, the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. Devon and its employees also are major contributors to community United Way programs.
The contributions we make as a company and as employees are part of the responsibility we embrace as leaders in the energy industry. We strive to enrich the quality of life for our employees, their families and our neighbors. We share in the responsibility to make our communities stronger.
OUR EMPLOYEES
Strong personal character and a desire to do the right thing are prominent in Devon’s corporate culture. Each day, our employees demonstrate the values and convictions that reflect our commitment to corporate citizenship because what we do as individuals is just as important as what we do as a company.
Devon production foreman Clay Cavasos was on call when the phone at his home rang at 1:30 in the morning. The fire department had notified Devon they needed assistance with a well that was malfunctioning near the north Texas city of Bridgeport. He drove to the site and found an oil well pumping unit that had lost its muffler. The engine could be heard more than a mile away, like a cannon firing every couple seconds. A neighbor living nearby thought someone had been shooting at her home.
Clay, who is a 26-year veteran of the north Texas oil patch, knew immediately after his arrival that the well was not Devon’s. It is common in North Texas for emergency dispatchers to call Devon first when there is trouble in the field. The company is the largest operator in the region and our emergency hotline is manned 24 hours a day.
Even though the well was not ours, Clay agreed to help. Shutting pumping units off is something he had done many times in his career. It is a simple, five-minute task for someone who knows what he is doing. He disengaged the clutch, set the break, shut off the fuel supply and listened as the engine slowly died, bringing peace back to the neighborhood.
Clay never got back to sleep that night, but that was okay. The company that owns the well thanked him for his help, and the Boonesville Fire Department appreciated what he had done. Almost every week, Clay or one of his co-workers is called late at night to address a problem that frequently turns out to be with another company’s property. They do what they can to help, because that is what it means to be a good neighbor.
Clay is one of many Devon employees who derive satisfaction from their work and from their contributions to others. The spirit they bring to their jobs and their communities defines Devon as a company and a workplace.
We produce more than a half million barrels of oil equivalent each day, and we have more than two billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserve. But those are only figures that comprise the framework of a great company. Our employees are at the foundation of our success, and that is why we consider our people our most valuable asset.
The company’s sense of value for its employees filters through all levels of management and manifests in the form of personal fulfillment. It is the kind of fulfillment that fuels spirit, enthusiasm and innovation. Teamwork is not a buzzword. It is a way of life, and employees share ownership in the company’s success.
Devon has grown rapidly in recent years and much has changed, but Devon’s small-company feel remains. We discourage bureaucracy and encourage efficiency through free-flowing, two-way communication. Delegation, agility and the ability to make decisions quickly are key ingredients to our organization.
We encourage work-life balance through flexible work schedules and promote professional development through training programs. We nurture a positive work environment with a can-do atmosphere that empowers a confident workforce to achieve.
A survey report produced by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2007 found that 90 percent of Devon employees consider the company “a great place to work.” Ninety-four percent of respondents indicated they are proud to tell others they work at Devon.
We consider those high marks in an age defined by high rates of professional mobility and diminished reputation in the corporate community.
Character
Corporate character is fundamental in the relationship between a company and its employees, and Devon’s personality is shaped by more than its daily operations and corporate objectives. How we go about our business is just as important as what we accomplish. We are a part of the community, and we are dedicated to making contributions that can enhance the quality of life for everyone.
Stewardship is a core value at Devon. We believe that an investment in our neighbors and the environment is an investment in our employees and the future of our business.
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Emission Reduction
Competition in the ever-changing oil and natural gas industry goes beyond drill bits and asset transactions. The scope is greater than geology and engineering, and expectations transcend the barrels of oil produced or the cubic feet of gas captured.
It is not enough to find hydrocarbons and grow production. To compete and ensure long-term success, companies must pursue efficiency with the same resolve they use to overcome engineering challenges and the geological complexities of Mother Earth.
Through our commitment to efficiency, Devon is continuously searching for new ways to conserve energy and reduce emissions. It is the environmentally responsible thing to do and makes good business sense. By lowering the amount of energy we use and finding ways to cut our greenhouse gas emissions, Devon can operate more efficiently, improve profitability and be more competitive.
Since 1990, we have been taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production and transportation operations across the United States. The result of those improvements accounted for companywide emission reductions in 2005 of six billion cubic feet of methane, or 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. By retaining that volume of methane gas in the pipeline, the company saw an economic benefit of more than $43 million in 2005.
In addition to regulatory compliance, our record of voluntary greenhouse gas emission reductions is well established in the United States and Canada.
Devon is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Natural Gas STAR program, a voluntary partnership between the energy industry and government to reduce methane emissions. Through the program, we are working with the EPA to find cost-effective methods of reducing emissions, such as equipment upgrades and more efficient production processes.
For example, we have implemented reduced-emission well completion methods at several of our major natural gas production operations. The new completion techniques allow the company to capture millions of cubic feet of natural gas each year that would otherwise have been lost. The improved process has allowed Devon to reduce its emissions by a significant margin while retaining value by keeping more gas in the pipeline and available for sale.
The additional measures we have established since joining Natural Gas STAR in 2003 account for billions of cubic feet of methane emission reductions each year. Our achievements have resulted in repeated recognition under the program. Devon was honored as the Natural Gas STAR Rookie of the Year in 2004. In 2005, the company was honored as the Natural Gas STAR Production Partner of the Year.
In Canada, Devon is also an established leader in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1994, Devon has implemented more than 200 emission reduction projects, resulting in a cumulative reduction of more than 8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Through our accomplishments in Canada, we have earned the elite status of Gold Champion Level Reporter under the Canadian Greenhouse Gas Challenge Registry program. The emission-reduction initiative is an industry-government partnership administered by the Canadian Standards Association to address climate change issues.
In addition to emission reduction efforts already under way in the United States and Canada, we have designated teams within the company to find new opportunities for energy conservation and to conduct a companywide inventory of methane and carbon dioxide emission volumes.
Energy conservation audits at field facilities and energy conservation awareness initiatives for employees are among strategies we use to reduce energy consumption. By conserving energy, we can ultimately lower emissions through reduced demands from electrical generation facilities. By lowering power demands, it is possible to reduce fossil fuel combustion and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions.
We continue to survey production facilities as part of a companywide inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. The inventory is an essential step toward the creation of an accurate and reliable system of measuring and managing emissions. Devon is an industry leader in emission reductions, with a dynamic program that is growing. As our program continues to develop, we expect climate change considerations to evolve as well. New regulatory mandates, more scientific discoveries and technological advancements will contribute to changes in the environment in which we operate. Our Greenhouse Gas Issues Team continually monitors the evolving climate change area to ensure Devon’s response is effective and appropriate.
Exploration and production of oil and natural gas is a challenging business, especially when a company is committed to minimizing its impact on the environment. We work to conduct our operations in a responsible way because it is good for the environment and it is good for our business. We stand behind our record of environmental stewardship, and we believe our strategy for addressing climate change sets a solid foundation for continued emission reductions well into the future.
Water Conservation
As we search for opportunities to reduce our operational footprint, we often find ways to enhance the land, the habitat and the communities that surround us.
Water conservation is an example of our success. We recognize the importance of managing this vital resource, and we understand the role our industry can play. Our search for conservation opportunities has lead us to a growing number of programs across North America. We are industry leaders in establishing recycling technology in north Texas, we have implemented water-use reductions in Alberta and we funnel fresh water from gas production operations in Wyoming to applications that benefit wildlife and ranching. We also embrace our role as an industry leader, promoting conservation through educational programs for children.
In north Texas, we are a forerunner in the use of mobile recycling technology to reclaim wastewater produced from gas well completions in the region’s Barnett Shale field. Large volumes of water are injected into newly drilled wells to stimulate production. Recycling units stationed in several locations in the Barnett Shale field treat a half million gallons of water per day. The process removes hydrocarbons, dissolved salts and other impurities, allowing us to reuse 85 percent of the recovered water for other well completion projects. The technology reduces our demand for fresh water and leaves more of the resource for surrounding communities.
In Canada, our proactive approach to water conservation has helped us to reduce our water consumption by 18 percent since we implemented a usage tracking system in 2001.
Technological upgrades at our Coleman gas plant in southern Alberta contributed to our success. As a result of these upgrades, we are consuming 25 percent less water and 75 percent of the water we use at the plant is recycled.
We also are conserving fresh water at our Jackfish oil sands project in eastern Alberta. Large quantities of steam must be injected to heat and liquefy thick, tar-like oil before it can flow to the surface. To eliminate the project’s demand for fresh water, our engineers have tapped a deep reservoir of brackish, non-potable groundwater for the steaming process, which preserves freshwater supplies for our neighbors.
In Wyoming, Devon uses fresh water produced from coalbed natural gas wells to benefit wildlife, livestock and their habitat. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department honored Devon in 2002 with its Coalbed Methane Natural Resource Stewardship Award. The recognition cited Devon’s work to minimize habitat disturbances at drilling sites and for our use of groundwater to benefit wildlife. The agency cited Devon again in 2004 with its Industry Reclamation and Wildlife Stewardship Award for our use of produced groundwater to create lakes and ponds for livestock and wildlife.
Our contribution to water conservation does not end with our field operations. We are carrying the message to classrooms through our sponsorship of the SEEDS Foundation Centennial Water Challenge, established in 2005 in celebration of Alberta’s 100th birthday. Through the program, students are challenged to adopt household practices that conserve water supplies and protect water quality. More than 13,000 students throughout Alberta participated in the program’s first year.
Water is an integral part of oil and natural gas production, and we believe we can serve communities by continuing to find new ways to conserve our water resources.
SAFETY
We consider our employees to be our most valuable assets, and protecting them is essential. Every job, operation and objective begins and ends with safety. It is an important part of our corporate culture, intertwined in our daily routines in the field, in the office and on the road.
There is more to safety than simply handing out manuals. We go beyond that by creating a positive environment where employees watch out for one another and learn how to do their jobs with care.
Our commitment to safety has resulted in repeated recognition from government agencies and industry organizations such as the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service and the Gas Processors Association.
While we are proud of our safety awards, we take more satisfaction in our results. True accomplishment is measured by injuries prevented and lives saved. In 2005, despite several hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, all 163 Devon employees assigned to offshore duties in the Gulf of Mexico completed the year without a single recordable injury.
To employees in our gas processing plant in Worland, Wyoming, safety is a way of life. No one at that plant has missed a day of work because of an on-the-job injury since 1965.
Like all other facets of our business, success in safety comes through hard work, perseverance and innovation. We have earned our reputation as an industry leader through a series of initiatives that promote safety as a product of leadership and communication. Our broad program not only targets workers in the field, it also includes office employees and executives.
Devon’s Safe Actions for Everyone (SAFE) program is a field safety initiative established in north Texas. Since 2003, the program has spread to all of Devon’s U.S. operating regions. The initiative calls for frequent peer observations and immediate, positive feedback to remind employees and contractors to work safely. SAFE has been an effective program, reducing recordable injuries by as much as 62 percent in areas where it is implemented.
Education is a key to safety, and Devon’s Field Safety Representative Program is a key initiative designed to establish a broad base of safety leadership across all of Devon’s U.S. operations.
The program began in 1999 as a voluntary conference call and now includes an annual two-day training session. Since its first year, participation in the program has grown from eight to more than 50 representatives. The program works because it builds relationships and allows people to ask questions and discuss solutions, which creates a positive environment for learning and growth.
In Canada, Devon uses task competency manuals, mentoring programs and testing to promote safety.
Our offshore operations face unique challenges in an environment that can be harsh and hazardous. To reinforce awareness and to promote safety, our employees attend training on a regular basis. Also, leaders from our Field Safety Representative Program are present on every shift in each of Devon’s Gulf of Mexico production areas. As a result, our safety record in the Gulf of Mexico is among the industry’s best. From 2000 through 2006, Devon has won 10 District Safety Awards for Excellence from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service.
Awards & Achievements
Click here to view a list of Devon's awards and achievements.
OUR GLOBAL INVESTMENT
While Devon’s roots are in North America, our operations span the globe. We strive to be a good neighbor, and our commitment to communities is confirmed through social investment programs in several countries outside of North America. Devon’s contributions in Brazil and Azerbaijan are continuing to grow. Meanwhile, our accomplishments in Egypt and West Africa will remain as legacies to our community spirit. Devon is discontinuing exploration and production operations in Africa through a series of property divestitures expected to be completed by the end of 2007.
All of Devon’s programs are established to provide socially responsible contributions that meet the needs of communities, facilitate development and strengthen local organizations. We make investments that deliver long-term results that can outlast the life of our projects and provide resources communities need for continued sustainability.
This approach to community investment calls upon local citizens to identify and prioritize their needs, adding significant value and bringing lasting benefits to their communities. For example, because Nigeria faces a significant need for access to education and enhanced educational facilities, we worked to meet the needs of local communities in the country.
We invested more than $1 million per year to provide scholarship opportunities for students to pursue degrees in petroleum engineering, petroleum law, geology and geophysics at Nigerian universities, as well as institutions in the United States and Europe. More than 500 students received scholarships since the program’s inception in 2003.
Many classrooms in Nigeria consisted of unfurnished, deteriorating shacks with dirt floors. While active in Nigeria, we built and renovated four local schools to provide safe, clean and modern learning facilities. These renovations included classrooms, restrooms and science labs. We also donated geological equipment, furniture and textbooks.
Devon constructed two housing facilities for the Lagos State Model College in Nigeria. Prior to the project, the majority of female students were sleeping on the floor of the school’s dining hall. Now, the new dormitory comfortably accommodates more than 700 students.
In addition to run-down educational facilities, neglected orphanages also are found along the West African coast. In Cote d’Ivoire, more than 200 boys at the Bingerville Orphanage were accustomed to sleeping on mats strewn over cracked concrete floors. For several years, Devon invested time and funding to help improve facilities and living conditions for the children. We also provided the orphanage with computers, printers and copiers, as well as other equipment and appliances.
In response to overcrowding at the Ijamido Motherless Babies Home in Ogun, Nigeria, Devon built a two-story dormitory to provide safe, clean and comfortable living conditions.
Compassion
Devon also has been intimately involved with enhancing communities in Brazil. In the streets of Rio de Janeiro, children often are exposed to hardship and crime. Our support of A Casa da Arvore is vital to more than 6,000 children assisted by the organization, which provides free psychological counseling to children and their families.
In Azerbaijan, Devon works closely with the Azerbaijan International Operating Company to create sustainable benefits in local communities. Through the partnership, the company has renovated a maternity ward at Lokbatan Hospital in the Garadagh District of Azerbaijan. The partnership also provided medical equipment for the hospital and provided funding for training programs to educate doctors and nurses on modern medical techniques.
In Egypt, Devon was a key member of the Society for Road Safety. The program provided education and funding for traffic safety projects, such as the construction of a proposed pedestrian tunnel across Cairo’s busiest road and safety training for school bus drivers. Devon also provided food, blankets and medicine for poor families and orphans in Cairo and the Central Nile Delta region. We also raised funds for education, health services, water management and agricultural development.
Commitment
While the nature of our business requires operations in a wide range of legal, cultural and business environments, we are committed to honesty and integrity. For this purpose, our Foreign Corrupt Practices Policy serves as a guide for all Devon employees and demonstrates our high ethical standards.
These standards, coupled with our sincere commitment to enhance the communities where we live and work, are at the foundation of our reputation as a good corporate citizen in communities around the world.