(Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producers Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY) and Devon Energy Corp (NYSE:DVN) blew past Wall Street's profit expectations on Tuesday, as easing travel curbs and rising vaccinations boosted fuel demand and crude prices.
Shares of Occidental rose nearly 2% to $26.95 in extended trade, while Devon climbed 1.9% to $26.70.
After a crushing 2020, oil prices have rebounded to multi-year highs and are now trading at over $70 a barrel, thanks to output curbs by the OPEC+ and a pick-up in economic activity.
Devon also announced a fixed-plus-variable dividend of 49 cents per share, 44% higher than last quarter's payout, underscoring the energy industry's focus on shareholder returns over spending to expand production.
Peers Diamondback (NASDAQ:FANG) Energy Inc increased its annual divided by 12.5% to $1.80 per share and Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) Co declared an inaugural variable dividend of $1.51 per share on Monday.
Occidental said its total production from continuing operations rose to 1.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), 7.7% higher sequentially.
The company's average price for worldwide crude oil rose to $60.05 per barrel from $55.65 barrel in the prior quarter.
The oil and gas producer's adjusted profit attributable to common stockholders stood at $311 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. Analysts had estimated 3 cents per share, according to Refinitiv IBES.
Devon posted core earnings of 60 cents per share, beating an estimate of 52 cents per share.