Pioneer Natural Resources Company

Please stand by, we're about to begin. Good day everyone and welcome to Pioneer Natural Resources fourth quarter earnings conference call. Joining us today will be Scott Sheffield, Chief Executive Officer, Rich Daley, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Neil Shaw, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Pioneer has prepared presentation slides to supplement comments made today. These slides are available on the internet at www.pxd.com. Again, the internet website to access the slides presented in today's call is www.pxd.com. Navigate to the Investor tab found at the top of the webpage and then select Quarterly Results. Today's call is being recorded. A replay of the call will be archived on www.pxt.com through March 23, 2023. The company's comments today will include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements and the business protocol prospects of Pioneer are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results in future periods to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in Pioneer's news release on page two of the slide presentation and in Pioneer's public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At this time for an opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Pioneer's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Neil Shaw. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, April. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Pioneer's fourth quarter earnings call. Today, we will discuss the strong fourth quarter and full year 2022 results that Pioneer delivered, which resulted in a record 30% return on capital employed and a generation of over $8 billion in free cash flow. These results were underpinned by our world-class assets, our dedicated employees, and efficient operations. We're also excited to highlight our 2023 and the strong efficiencies the teams continue to deliver. We will then open up the call for your questions. With that, I will turn it over to Scott.

Thank you, Neil. Good morning. On today's call, we'll be discussing our fourth quarter and full year 22 results, as well as the outlook for 2023. Pioneer delivered strong results in 22, as seen through the many accomplishments on slide number three. During 22, Pioneer was the most active driller and largest oil producer in the state of Texas, achieved our fifth straight year of drilling and completion efficiency gains. Also, Pioneer delivered a record year on total production, also achieving a return on capital employed of 30%, a record. strengthening our fortress-like balance sheet, and remain disciplined with a reinvestment rate at approximately 30% of our cash flow. These strong results supported highly attractive free cash flow generation, of which we returned greater than 95% of free cash flow to shareholders through our 26% share in dividends and $1.65 billion in share repurchases. We plan to build on these strong 22 results and expect to deliver a compelling 23%. with nearly two months of strong execution already completed. We remain highly constructive on all prices. I'm still very optimistic that we'll move back into that $90 to $100 range sometime earlier this summer as we move in and get away from this $78 to $88 swing in Brent prices. Turning to slide four. During the fourth quarter, Pioneer generated $1.7 billion in free cash flow, bringing yearly free cash flow to $8.4 billion, of which we return approximately $8 billion through dividends and share repurchases throughout the year. For the fourth quarter, we are returning just over 100% of our free cash flow, comprised of our first quarter