Following Vital Energy’s acquisition by Crescent Energy in late August, one executive of the Tulsa company is reassuring employees that things will continue as normal. But it is also clear the Tulsa office of Vital will likely close.
Crescent Energy, headquartered in Houston, Texas bought the company in a $3.1 billion all-stock deal on August 25.
As a result of the acquisition, Crescent could become a top 10 independent oil and gas producer in the U.S. plus have a much larger imprint in the Permian Basin.
Kim Harding, Vice President, Human Resources of Vital Energy, Inc. sent an email message to Vital employees on
September 11, 2025. In it, she informed them their “day-to-day responsibilities, reporting lines and workflows would “continue as usual.” Harding also said it will be late October before all employees learn if they will have continued employment with the company.
Harding also explained that the Vital headquarters in Tulsa are not in Crescent Energy’s long-term plans and will likely close. But it is unclear how such a shut-down will affect the number of Vital employees.
Here are some of the answers to anticipated questions about the acquisition by Crescent Energy.
1. What is changing now?
• At this time, you remain a Vital Energy (“Vital”) employee. You will continue to perform your duties with the direction and support of
your Vital manager. Day-to-day responsibilities, reporting lines, and workflows will continue as usual, guided by existing leadership and practices.
• Joint Crescent/Vital integration teams will be in place starting approximately September 10, 2025. These teams will work to evaluate and make integration recommendations on aspects of the business during the integration period.
• We will communicate integration-related decisions throughout this process.
• The goal at the end of this integration period is for employees to have a clear view of the longer-term business model and their role in it.
2. What will change once the transaction closes?
• Following the closing of the transaction (“Closing”), which we anticipate will occur before the end of 2025 (subject to receipt of all required approvals and satisfaction or waiver of other closing conditions), Crescent Energy (“Crescent”) will operate Vital’s assets on a largely unchanged basis in field operations for some period thereafter, while collaborating to capitalize on commercial, market, and expertise opportunities.
3. When will I know if I am going to receive an offer of continued employment from Crescent?
• Crescent anticipates that, by the end of October 2025, each employee will be notified whether the employee will receive an offer of continued employment with Crescent, which will be contingent on the transaction closing.
• Employees who receive an offer of continued employment will have time, consistent with business needs, to consider whether or not to accept the offer.
4. How will decisions be made regarding which positions Crescent eliminates?
• We expect most field operations employees to be needed to run the combined entity. Crescent also has needs for many other roles
throughout the organization and will ask Vital employees who are interested to apply for open positions.
• Employees who are not offered continued employment with Crescent will be eligible to receive severance benefits upon termination of their employment following the closing of the transaction, which will be subject to satisfying the applicable release requirements and may be contingent upon completing a transition period (as discussed in Q/A-12 below).
5. Will Vital’s Tulsa office close, and if so, when?
• Crescent does not have a definitive timeline for when roles will transition to Houston on a permanent basis, but Crescent does not plan to maintain a Tulsa office long-term.
• There are still many months of integration work ahead to determine how the Permian assets will fit into Crescent’s overall organizational structure. Crescent expects to provide a more detailed timeline later this year after gathering information through the collaborative integration team process, and is working on a formal process to collect applications of interest for roles in the Houston office.
6. Who will I report to if I remain with Crescent?
• The majority of field operations employees will continue to hold the same or similar positions with the same or similar responsibilities and manager. We will communicate any changes for office-based employees as the joint integration team evaluates the organizational structure.
7. Will Vital pay the 2025 annual bonus? If so, when?
• All bonus-eligible employees will remain eligible for a 2025 annual cash incentive bonus.
• If the transaction closes in 2025, then employees will receive a bonus based upon the greater of target performance or actual performance through the Closing, which will be paid by Crescent no later than March 15, 2026 (unless the bonus has already been paid to you by Vital), generally subject to your continued employment through the payment date unless you have a qualifying termination of employment before the payment date, in which case you will still be eligible to receive your bonus for 2025 provided that you satisfy the applicable release
requirements.
• If the transaction does not close in 2025, bonuses for the 2025 year are expected to be paid in the normal course.
8. Will Crescent offer a 2026 annual bonus?
• Crescent does include a discretionary annual bonus (“Annual Bonus”) as part of the Crescent pay and benefits (the “Total Rewards”) package. The payout of the Annual Bonus each year will be based on numerous factors including individual and company metrics as determined by management in its sole discretion.
• Details about your Annual Bonus will be communicated to you in the Total Rewards letter you will receive from Crescent in connection with Closing.
9. Will Crescent offer stock grants (long-term incentives) in 2026?
• Crescent does offer long-term incentives for some roles as part of the Total Rewards package. Eligibility for the Crescent equity program is based on employee classification level.
• If eligible, details about your long-term incentive compensation will be communicated to you in the Total Rewards letter you will receive from Crescent in connection with Closing.
10. Are there any new policies going into effect with the transaction?
• Yes, following the Closing, all employees who remain employed during a transition period or as a full-time employee with Crescent will be subject to Crescent’s Code of Conduct, Employee Handbook, and other policies and procedures. While similar to the Vital policies, the Code of Conduct and Employee Handbook include Crescent’s expectations regarding Ethics, Conflicts of Interest, Directorships, Gifts and Entertainment, Antitrust/Anti-Corruption, Alcohol & Drug Use, Equal Employment Opportunity and Harassment in the Workplace.
• Additional orientation and training materials on these policies and procedures will be made available as part of onboarding.
11. What is the purpose of the severance plan and how does it work?
• In connection with the transaction, Vital will adopt a new change in control severance plan (the “Severance Plan”). The Severance Plan is intended to provide severance benefits (as discussed in Q/A-13 below) to full-time employees whose employment is terminated by the company without “cause” or by the employee for “good reason” (which generally includes a material decrease in salary or a geographical relocation of the employee’s principal business location of more than 50 miles) within one year following the Closing, all as will be set
forth in (and subject to the terms of) the Severance Plan.
12. If my employment ends, will I be eligible for severance benefits? If I am working for a transition period and I find another job and want to resign to accept my job, will I receive payment of the severance benefits?
• Upon the Closing of the transaction, the majority of field operations employees will continue to hold the same or a similar position and responsibilities. These employees will receive a comparable offer of employment and will not be eligible for severance benefits upon Closing.