Well I was surprised to hear about Williams splitting into two companies. But that also leads me to worry about Devon's future. Williams is a great comparison to Devon. For Tulsa, Williams was the huge player in town, developed all this office space in downtown, and then BAM! They started downsizing and now they're splitting. It would be very easy for me to see this as a future for Devon in such a market as energy. And if something like Williams or Devon go, as much as we like to think we're diversified now, OKC is screwed.

Does "diversification" mean we have Devon AND Chesapeake?

(that ain't diversity)

Well the city says the eceonomy of the city has diversified to include things beyond energy...bio-tech, for example. I don't think any of the other industries are prominent to really make up for energy in the slightest bit personally. That's why something the Williams deal worries me for OKC. We could be derailed for another few decades if another bust came up....or if Devon or Chesapeak ever left town.

Both Devon and Williams have large midstream/pipeline divisions and exploration/production divisions, with Williams having the larger midstream/pipeline division and Devon the larger explorer/producer. Currently Devon is 5th in natural gas production and Williams is 10th (Chesapeake is 4th). Williams is betting on a split helping them grow the two divisions separately with one focused on pipelines, storage and processing and one focused on exploration/production. Marathon recently did the same thing. We'll see how it turns out.

...Marathon recently did the same thing...

...it's a common theme in the sector. Chesapeake spun-off its mid-stream assets and formed an MLP in August of last year (ticker: CHKM)