Oil and gas prices can be volatile. Because of that, energy companies have had a difficult time maintaining their dividend payments over the years. Many have had to cut their payouts during pricing downturns to conserve cash, upsetting investors who relied on those fixed payments.

Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) has learned to embrace the sector's volatility. That led it to introduce the industry's first fixed-plus-variable dividend framework last year. It's a lesson that Plains All American Pipeline (NASDAQ: PAA) could stand to learn from Devon.

Devon has experienced the oil sector's volatility firsthand. The oil company had to slash its dividend by 75% in 2016 to a level it could sustain at lower oil prices. It eventually started increasing its dividend as its oil-fueled cash flow improved.

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Source Fool.com