Enerplus Corporation (NYSE:ERF) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Drew Mair - Manager of Investor Relations

Ian Dundas - President and Chief Executive Officer

Wade Hutchings - Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Jodine Jenson Labrie - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Greg Pardy - RBC Capital Markets

Patrick O'Rourke - ATB Capital Markets

Jamie Kubik - CIBC World Markets

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Enerplus' Q4 Year-End 2022 Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Friday, February 24, 2023.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Drew Mair. Please go ahead.

Drew Mair

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call. Before we get started, please take note of the advisories located at the end of our fourth quarter and year-end news release. Our financials have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our production volumes are reported on a net after deduction of royalty basis and our financial figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified.

I am here this morning with Ian Dundas, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Wade Hutchings, Senior VP and Chief Operating Officer; Jodi Jenson Labrie, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer; Shaina Morihira, VP, Finance; and Garth Doll, VP, Marketing. Following our discussion, we will open up the call for questions.

With that, I will turn it over to Ian.

Ian Dundas

Good morning, everyone. Our positive operational and financial performance continued through the fourth quarter of 2022. Production in the quarter averaged just under 107,000 BOE per day, an increase of 4% compared to the same period in 2021. Capital spending of $86 million in the quarter helped to support another quarter of strong free cash flow generation of $230 million. Overall, we believe 2022 was an outstanding year for our company.

We executed our operating plan efficiently, delivering volume growth ahead of expectations, while maintaining a focus on cost control and capital discipline, which helped to dampen the impacts of the inflation we were all experiencing.

Total production increased 9% year-over-year. This increases to 17% on a per share basis as a result of our significant share repurchase activity during the year. And while we were clearly impacted by cost inflation, strong planning, procurement and execution sheltered us from the worst effects of it, and ultimately, we were able to operate within our original 2022 capital spending guidance range.