PDC Energy, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the PDC Energy fourth quarter 2022 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Aaron Vandepoort, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. On today's call, we will have President and CEO Bart Brookman, Executive Vice President Lance Locke, Chief Financial Officer Scott Myers, and Senior Vice President of Operations Dave Lillo. Yesterday afternoon, we issued our press release and posted a presentation that accompanies our remarks today. We also filed our Form 10-K. The press release and presentation are available on the investor relations page of our website at www.pdce.com. On today's call, we will reference both forward-looking statements and non-U.S. GAAP financial measures. The appropriate disclosures and reconciliations, including a discussion of factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, can be found on slide two and the appendix of that presentation. With that, I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Bart Brookman.

Thanks, Erin, and good morning, everyone. Let me open by saying over PDC's entire 50-year history, 2022 stands as the most successful year by almost every measure. A record free cash flow level of $1.4 billion, a billion dollars of which was returned to our shareholders in the form of share repurchases, our fixed dividends, and a $0.65 per shared special dividend this past December. Production for the company, a record 85 million BOE. In May, we closed the highly accretive Great Western Acquisition, solidifying our already exceptional core Wattenberg position and driving solid production and reserve growth. Reserves year-end 2022, a 440% reserve replacement for the company as we grew reserves to 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. And drill permits. I want to extend the most sincere thank you to our regulatory group, permit specialists, land team, operations, and air compliance groups. In 2022, we cracked the code on obtaining permits in the state of Colorado. And through our approved OGDPs, and Great Western Acquisition, we now have permits and ducks in hand for our development program through 2028. Emissions for the company. Last year, we materially beat our 2022 emission reduction goals with over a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and over a 50% reduction in methane intensity. Outstanding results. Based on this achievement, expect us to roll out even more aggressive emission goals in the near future. The recently approved cap demonstrates the company's focus on long-term development aligned with our ESG goals, these emission reduction goals, and quality development plans. A reminder, within this cap, we have 33,000 net acres, 450 wells, 22 surface locations, and a permit life of 10 years. Technically, we are implementing significant best business practices, including deploying more two- to three-mile laterals, pursuing 100% electrification, and state-of-the-art facility designs. Within the cap, the company will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72%. from our 2020 design, resulting in some of the lowest emission production in the world. And the most compelling aspect of the cap is, while achieving these extremely low emission levels, the drilling projects will be some of the most resilient and economic projects in the country. And Lance will provide more color on this in a moment. Building on these 2022 successes, I'd now like to turn our attention to the company's plans for this year. We anticipate 2023 will be another success story. Production of 95 million BOE or 260,000 BOE per day. Projects in both basins are well mapped and highly economic. Free cash flow is anticipated to be $825 million That's at $75 oil and $3 natural gas on a capital spend of approximately $1.4 billion. We will modestly reduce debt levels for the company and anticipate year-end leverage ratio of 0.5. Our commitment to returning 60% of the free cash flow post-fixed dividend remains strong. In our recent announcement on increasing our fixed dividend to 40 cents per share, and expanding our buyback authorization by $750 million, both demonstrate the company's commitment to shareholder returns. And last for my comments today, a sincere congratulations to our EHS and operating teams in both basins. Texas and Colorado operations are approximately five years with no lost time injuries, a record for the company and a signature of PDC's commitment to safety. A job well done. Now, I'll turn the call over to Lance Locke for an update on the company's reserves and inventory.