Chevron
Q4 2022 Earnings Call
Jan 27, 2023, 11:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning. My name is Katie, and I will be your conference facilitator today. Welcome to Chevron's fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] I will now turn the conference over to the general manager of investor relations of Chevron Corporation, Mr.
Roderick Green. Please, go ahead.
Roderick Green -- General Manager, Investor Relations
Thank you, Katie. Welcome to Chevron's fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call and webcast. I'm Roderick Green, general manager of investor relations. Our chairman and CEO, Mike Wirth; and CFO, Pierre Breber, are on the call with me.
Also listening in today is Jake Spiering, the incoming general manager of investor relations, who will assume this position effective March 1. Jake and I will be transitioning together over the next couple of months. It's been my sincere pleasure working with each of you over the last two years. Thank you for your questions, feedback, and investment in Chevron.
We will refer to the slides and prepared remarks that are available on Chevron's website. Before we begin, please be reminded that this presentation contains estimates, projections, and other forward-looking statements. Please review the cautionary statement on Slide 2. Now, I will turn it over to Mike.
Mike Wirth -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Roderick, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Chevron had an outstanding year in 2022, delivering record financial performance, producing more traditional energy, and advancing lower carbon businesses. Free cash flow stood a record, beating our previous high in 2021 by more than $15 billion, enabling a strong dividend increase and a buyback of almost 4% of our shares. U.S.
production was also our highest ever, led by double-digit growth in the Permian. Growth matters when it's profitable. Return on capital employed over 20% shows that our focus on capital efficiency is delivering results. And we took important steps in building new energy businesses.
We successfully integrated REG's people and assets into Chevron, combining the best of both companies' technical and commercial capabilities. And we acquired rights to pore space for potential carbon capture and storage projects in Texas and Australia. We had many other highlights last year. To name just a few, at TCO, project construction is largely complete, and we're starting up the fuel gas system.