EOG Resources
Q4 2022 Earnings Call
Feb 24, 2023, 10:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, everyone, and welcome to EOG Resources' fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings results conference call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to hand the call over to the chief financial officer of EOG Resources, Mr. Tim Driggers.
Please go ahead, sir.
Tim Driggers -- Chief Financial Officer
Good morning and thanks for joining us. This conference call includes forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements have been outlined in the earnings release [Technical difficulty] This conference call also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and reconciliation schedules for these non-GAAP measures can be found on EOG's website.
Some of the reserve estimates on this conference call may include estimated potential reserves and estimated resource potential not necessarily calculated in accordance with the SEC's reserve reporting guidelines. Participating on the call this morning are Ezra Yacob, chairman and CEO; Billy Helms, president and chief operating officer; Ken Boedeker, EVP, exploration and production; Jeff Leitzell, EVP, exploration and production; Lance Terveen, senior VP, marketing; and David Straube, VP, investor relations. Here's Ezra.
Ezra Yacob -- President
Thanks, Tim. Good morning, everyone. EOG's growing portfolio of high-return assets delivered outstanding results in 2022. We earned record return on capital employed of 34% and record adjusted net income of $8.1 billion, generated a record $7.6 billion of free cash flow, which funded record cash return to shareholders of $5.1 billion.
We increased our regular dividend rate to 10% and paid four special dividends, paying out 67% of free cash flow, beating our commitment to return a minimum of 60% of annual free cash flow to shareholders. And we strengthened what was already one of the best balance sheets in the industry, reducing net debt by nearly $800 million. We continue to deliver on our free cash flow priorities this year by declaring an additional special dividend of $1 per share yesterday. Outshining our financial results were achievements made by our operating teams working in a challenging inflationary environment.
Credit goes to the innovative and entrepreneurial teams working collaboratively across our multi-basin portfolio. Together, we leverage the flexibility provided by our decentralized structure to deliver exceptional operational performance. Production volumes, capex, and per-unit operating costs were within guidance set at the start of the year. We offset persistent inflationary pressures that exceeded 20% during the year to limit well cost increases to just 7%.