Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Enel Chile fourth quarter and full year 2022 results Conference Call. My name is Gigi, I'll be your operator for today. 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 one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. During this conference call, we may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect only our current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors are described in Enel Chile's press release reporting its fourth quarter and full year 2022 results. The presentation accompanying this conference call and Enel Chile's annual report on Form 20-F included under risk factors. You may access our fourth quarter and full year 2022 results press release and presentation on our website, www.enel.cl, and our 20-F on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Enel Chile undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to disclose any development as a result of which these forward-looking statements become inaccurate, except as required by law. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Mrs.
Isabela Klemes, Head of Investor Relations of Enel Chile. Please proceed.
Hi. Buenos dias. Good morning, welcome to Enel Chile's fourth quarter and full year 2022 results presentation. Thanks to you all joining us today. Joining me this morning, our CEO, Fabrizio Barderi, and our CFO, Giuseppe Turchiarelli. Our presentation and related financial information are available on our website, www.enel.cl, in the investor sections and in our app, Investors. In addition, a replay of the call will be available soon. At the end of this presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions via phone or webcast chat through the link, Ask a Question. Media participants are connected only in listener mode. The following slides, Fabrizio will open the presentation with our key highlights, later passing by market and portfolio management actions, Giuseppe will continue with our business economic and financial performance. Thank you all for your attention, now let me hand over to Fabrizio.
Fabrizio?
Thank you, Isabela. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Let me now start with the highlights of the period on slide three. 2022 was a very complex year. It also was a year in which we had the opportunity to tackle several actions necessary to recover our company's financial position faster than expected. Today, I will give an in-depth look into that and how Enel Chile is in a better shape to continue addressing the challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities we see ahead. We are very pleased to announce that the 2022 year was a turnaround in our story, mainly through the asset rotation activities, such as the sale of our transmission assets and portfolio management through the renegotiation of our LNG contract with Shell. Last but not least, our gas trading and optimization activity.
All these actions, plus the recovery in our business performance, allowed us to significantly outperform the EBITDA and net income target for 2022 announced at the 2021 Investor Day. Moreover, we have exceeded the net income projection presented in November during our last Investor Day. These results were achieved despite a very challenging market context. Spot prices were, and continue to be, under pressure given the commodity scenario and the bottleneck in the national transmission system. Nevertheless, improved hydrology and several optimization alternatives aided us offsetting this situation. Hydro generation increased by two TWh compared to 2021. Regarding our decarbonization path, we added around 0.8 GW of additional renewable capacity into our portfolio during the year. Also, in December 2022, we started the commercial operation of our green hydrogen pilot project in southern Chile.
As a result of all our actions and strategy, we have continued to be a benchmark as one of the region's best ESG performers. In fact, we became the first coal-free electricity generation company in Chile after the disconnection of Unit two at Bocamina Power Plant facility last September. Before moving on, another significant milestone was the company's fast deleveraging, reducing its net debt EBITDA ratio by around 60%. As a result, we improved our liquidity to support our strategy for the 2023-2025 period. In April 2023, we are holding the annual shareholders general meeting, where we are going to propose a final dividend of CLP 5.1 per share, totaling CLP 5.4 per share for the 2022 fiscal year. Now, let us move to slide four to review our main KPIs of 2022 versus our guidance.
2022 was a complex and challenging year for the energy sector, we faced headwinds and put ourselves in a much more comfortable position, thanks to several optimization actions, which we will discuss in more detail in the following slides. First, we added 0.8 GW of renewable capacity, reaching 76% of our total generation matrix by the end of last year. We accomplished the renewables percentages in our portfolio KPI and report our commitment to the energy transition in the country. Regarding earnings targets, the better business performance, coupled with the conclusion of several optimization and unlocking value initiatives during 2022, enabled us to increase our EBITDA and net income.
Notably, in both indicators, we exceeded the upper range of our guidance announcements during 2021 Investor Day, making possible a significant recovery in the company's financial situation, as we already anticipated in November. In fact, the net income figures for 2022 were even higher than the last projections we shared in November. In the following slides, we will give some more details about our initiatives and how it was translated into this outstanding performance improvement. On slide six, let's briefly talk about the market situation and how we have developed our recovery plan. Last year, we carried out a recovery plan by developing several actions to face the challenging scenario that put the whole energy sector under pressure, namely the increase in commodity prices, transmission constraints, and critical hydrology conditions at the beginning of the year.
All in all, during 2022, our short-term optimization initiatives contributed $276 million, as detailed in the slide. Hydrology recovery during 2022 and an accurate gas strategy, has boosted our portfolio results and supported additional margins from international trading and gas swap to the north of Chile, contributing almost $190 million in 2022. On natural gas, let me confirm that we are also adopting a solid gas policy for 2023. In addition, in 2022, we connected 0.8 GW of new renewable installed capacity. All our renewables growth contributed with a 1.2 terawatt hour of additional generation, with a positive impact in the year of $37 million. On slide seven, we will review the development of our renewable projects during the last year.
We continue to promote and support the energy transition in Chile, strengthening our portfolio mix and access, asset flexibility. During the last few years, we have significantly increased our renewable capacity through a diversified pipeline, allowing us to consolidate our position. During 2022, 0.5 GW of capacity received the Commercial Operation Date, the COD from authorities. We continue to improve our portfolio and currently have around 0.7 GW of projects in construction in the country. Here, we have some updates. We have started the construction of our first solar project in the central region, actually in the metropolitan area of Santiago. That will be a hybrid project with the best connectors. The project Manzano represents the first step in updating our growth strategy, which we announced during our last Investor Day.
Now, let's move to slide eight to talk about two actions that have successfully unlocked our asset value last year. According to our integrated approach strategy presented at our last Investor Day, we have carried out several actions, including those intended to strengthen our balance sheet metrics by sustainable growth, unlocking the value of our assets, and consequently, being better positioned for future opportunities. The most relevant case was the execution of the sale of Enel Transmisión Chile last December, a non-core asset for our company that hasn't been adequately valued inside of our portfolio. The proceeds of the sale of this asset at a very interesting market multiple, were used to optimize our debt levels, as Giuseppe will show you later.
In addition, we have also concluded an important negotiation to extract the value of our LNG long-term agreement, taking advantage of high commodity prices momentum. This initiative, which totals $520 million, allowed us to monetize this contract value and reduce our exposure to potential natural gas. All these actions are aligned with our value proposition, a commitment to our shareholders. We will continue reviewing our assets, looking for value that is locked or not adequately exploited. On page nine, let's review our initiatives and performance on the distribution segment, also an important pillar of our integrated strategy. Electrification is vital to tackle climate change, a fundamental pillar of our integrated strategy. During the last few years, we have focused all our efforts on enhancing our grid and improving the quality and digitalization of our network.
All these efforts have allowed us to improve our main indicators, particularly the losses and quality indicators. Additionally, as you can see, we have developed different initiatives and promoted several partnerships to boost the decarbonization of our clients' energy consumption. Let me go through some examples of the period. Regarding the B2C segment, we were awarded a tender for replacing 2,600 wood stoves with air conditioning units in December. Codelco will finance this project as a mechanism to offset emissions. On the B2G segment, we closed the deal with the Municipality of San Joaquín to provide energy solutions at three sports facilities. These projects included PV plants, LED lighting, and water heating through heat pumps. Finally, in the B2B segment, we closed an important contract for 14 years with an agroindustry plant to develop a 1.15 megawatt peak photovoltaic plant.
This is the largest project up to date for Enel Green. On page 10, I will conclude my section giving some evidence of our creating value for all approach. Our commitment and effort to the energy transition began to pay off years ago, and now the market recognizes us as one of the best ESG performers in the region. Our CapEx reached 92% ESG related, and over 89% aligned with the EU Taxonomy. This confirms that our strategy embeds sustainability. Also, sustainability finance represents almost a quarter of our total debt issued. This is still plenty of room to improve this indicator, but it is something that will take some time. A considerable amount of our investment is ESG related, and now an important piece of our tech is also ESG related. A significant milestone was the completion of the coal phase out process.
The red share has risen to 76% of the total, six basis points higher than in 2021. We reduced by almost 20% our CO2 emissions intensity, achieving 218 grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour. In December, the company was recognized once again by being confirmed in the first place in the three categories of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, after having obtained a score of 88. The categories were emerging markets, integrated markets of the Pacific Alliance. Enel Chile was also confirmed in the FTSE4Good Emerging Index and FTSE4Good Latin America Market Index. The Carbon Disclosure Project highlighted for the second time the company's leadership in mitigating the risk and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This time, the company improved its rating from B to A minus.
Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index 2023 confirms Enel Chile for a second consecutive year, measuring publicly traded companies' diversity and inclusion performance. This result reflects the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion, thanks to implementing actions and programs that help close gender gaps in the energy sector and progress in sustainable development. Enel Chile received the highest award given by ALAS20, the Company Grand Prix. The latter is the most important category a company can aspire to in ALAS20. It is awarded the only one company in Latin America, delivering leadership, consistency, and excellence in the public disclosure of information of its investor relations and sustainable development practices. Let me now hand over the presentation to Giuseppe, our CFO.
Many thanks, Fabrizio. Good morning to all our investors connected. I will start my presentation on slide 12, where I show a summary of our main results and the main adjustment of the period. The full year 2022, the EBITDA is adjusted by the impairment made to the coal stock of the period, which amounted to $59 million, and $61 million related to the write-off adjustment connected the generation development project as geothermal, hydropower plants, and thermal facilities, that according to our strategy and evaluation, we have decided not to execute. On the last quarter of 2022, we have also adjusted our EBITDA by the already mentioned restock booked in the period by $61 million. All these 2022 adjustments affected the bottom line by $80 million in the full year and $39 million in the quarter.
Let me recap the 2021 adjustment. The 2021 EBITDA figures were adjusted by the coal stock and the voluntary retirement plan that total $80 million in the full year and $28 million in the last quarter of 2021. In this case, only adjusted by the coal stock impairment. All these 2021 adjustments added to the impairment related to Bocamina 2 booked in the Q4 2021, resulted in an adjusted net income of $74 million and $42 million in the full year and the fourth quarter of 2021 respectively. As you can see in the slide, all earnings indicator represented an important improvement versus 2021 figures. I will detail later on our performance on our EBITDA and net income. Before moving on, I would like to reinforce the results of our efforts to reduce our leverage.
Our net debt to EBITDA has decreased by 60% as of December 31, 2022 versus the same period of the previous year. This was mainly explained by the managerial action already mentioned by Fabrizio, the Shell agreement, and the sale of Enel Transmisión assets executed in 2022. Let's review our CapEx on slide 13. Our 2022 total CapEx reached $1,120 million, roughly in line with our guidance for the year. In terms of taxonomy, 92% of the total CapEx was linked to the SDGs goals, mainly related to our renewable growth. Eighty-nine percent of our investments are aligned with the EU Taxonomy, which is current with our sustainable strategy.
Customer CapEx totaled $70 million, similar to the previous year, and was deployed mainly to enhance our three focus on quality and digitization in order to improve our customer experience. Other investments reached $194 million, and were mainly focused on several maintenance and repair activities to guarantee the continuity and resilience of our operations. On this regard, an important portion of our CapEx was mainly focused on the maintenance of our gas thermal facility. Consider the postponement of the maintenance in our thermal fleet in the last year as a result of the serious drought in the country in the last three years. Development CapEx reached $856 million, representing an increase of 9% in line with our renewable strategy.
Let's now move to slide 14, where we have the summary of the fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA breakdown, accounting for $932 million. The variation was mainly related to the agreement which Shell signed and executed in December 2022, totaling $520 million. An increase in our PPA sales of $169 million in Q4 2022, primarily explained by the higher devaluation of Chilean pesos against U.S. dollar. $81 million due to better hydrology in the period. Renewable growth related to the new capacity connected, adding $4 million in the EBITDA of the period, and the gas optimization activities that generated $40 million of margin as a consequence of a solid natural gas policy defined for 2022.
All these aspects that I have just mentioned in the generation side were offset by a negative $64 million related to the variable cost, mainly due to the higher thermal generation volume and cost related to the commodity price, and higher regasification cost due to higher volume. By a higher spot price in the system in the Q4 2022, mainly related to the commodity price and transmission line constraints. Following on the slide, let me talk about the other element that explain our EBITDA. grids accounted a positive impact of $11 million, mainly related to tariff indexation in both distribution and transmission business, partially offset by the provision of regulatory fines in network business due to non-compliance on quality services KPI from previous year. To conclude, let's review the final two negative aspects in the period.
$9 million of the hedging instrument associated with the bond debt of Enel Chile and Enel Generación. $15 million associated to OpEx and other aspects, mainly related to higher inflation affecting personal and maintenance. Let's move on to slide 15, where we have the summary of full year adjusted EBITDA breakdown, accounting for $1,468 million, 2.2 times higher versus last year figures. This variation was mainly related to the one-off effect associated to the agreement with Shell for under the $69 million from higher BPA sales, primarily explained by the higher foreign exchange of Chilean pesos against dollar, an increase in the unregulated BPAs, and the higher regulated demand. $37 million from renewable growth contribution, mainly due to the new capacity added in the period.
The better hydrology in the year resulting in a positive impact of $148 million. Finally, by the gas optimization activity that generated $169 million on margin. All these effects that I've just mentioned in the generation side were offset by a negative $240 million in variable costs, mainly related to higher thermal generation costs due to commodity prices and higher regasification costs in the period due to higher volume, partially offset by higher thermal generation and the hedging commodity coverage instrument in the period. A negative $280 million due to higher spot price in the system in the full year 2022. The remaining variation of our EBITDA comes from $43 million due to grid remuneration and demand, mainly explained by $49 million on tariff indexation in both network business.
$11 million coming from distribution and the remaining from transmission business that is consolidated in our book up to November 2022. The recovery of the demand in the period, which increased 4% in the full year 2022 compared to the previous year, reaching pre-pandemic level. This effect has been offset by additional fines booked in the period that total $12 million. To conclude, let's review the final two effects in the period. A negative hedging instrument effect associated with the bond debt and higher OpEx, mainly in generation business, by $35 million because of the inflation level of 2022 versus 2021. Let's now give you more detail on generation KPI on page 16.
Net electricity generation increased by 17% to 22.2 terawatt hour during 2022, mainly resulting from a greater hydro production due to the improved rainfall and a higher dispatch of our CCGT, coupled with a higher generation from other renewable sources, especially solar production, mostly related to the additional capacity of new projects. Similarly, net generation increased 9% to 5.7 terawatt hour during the Q4 2022, highlighting the improved hydro production and also a greater generation from other renewable sources. Our energy sales increased 11% during last year, mostly related to greater sales to regulated customers, coupled with higher sales to free customers, primarily due to new contracts. During Q4 2022, physical sales grew by 3%, mainly as a result of a higher sales to regulated customers.
On slide 17, let's go through the main driver of our group net income. Our full year 2022 adjusted net income amounted to $1,570 million, representing an increase versus last year's figures of 8.8 times. The main variances are coming from higher adjusted EBITDA, which increased $793 million or 2.2 times, as already explained in the previous slide. Higher D&A impairments and bad debt of $32 million versus 2021, mainly related to higher depreciation and amortization in Enel Green Power assets, primarily explained by the devaluation of Chilean pesos in the period and the initial commissioning of new solar power plants already connected to the grid.
A higher depreciation in distribution related to the new project and higher amortization of intangible assets related to the new commercial system recently upgraded at Enel Distribución Chile. Financial results and equity investment reported an improvement of $32 million in 2022, mainly due to lower expenses related to the factoring executed in 2022 in our Enel Generación Chile business, Compared to 2021 figures, all referring to the accounts receivable that arose from the tariff stabilization law, and the higher financial capitalized cost as a result of our renewable development plan in execution. All these effects were partially offset by a higher financial expenses as a consequence of new debt and bridge loan raised in the second and third quarter of 2022. Income tax increased by $167 million, mainly related to the higher earnings before tax resulting of the company.
These effects were partially offset by a tax benefit due to the monetary correction in the period. To conclude, our net income was also positively impacted by the sale of Enel Transmission during the fourth quarter. This transaction resulted in a net effect of $769 million. The Q4 2022 adjusted net income reached $1,305 million, representing an increase of around 16 times in the quarter, mainly explained by the effects I have just mentioned. Moving to FFO on slide 18. The full year 2022 FFO amounted a positive $672 million in the year, mainly explained by the full year 2022 EBITDA, which amounted $1,068 million based to $734 million of 2021, due to the reason previously explained.
The cumulative stabilization mechanism expected in our receivable accounting in full year 2022 for $534 million, reducing the cash conversion of the period. Let me highlight that $9 million are related to the stabilization mechanism approved in 2019, and $444 million are related to the new mechanism approved last August 2022. According to the mechanism of the law, we expect to receive the largest amount of this receivable during 2023. The working capital in the period accounted for a positive impact of $68 million, mainly due to several action management, including factoring of stabilization energy mechanism as one. Let me remind you that the net working capital of 2022...
2021 was positively impacted by the factoring related to 2019 stabilization mechanism receivables executed during the 2021, and recovery of LNG makeup gas from previous years. Income tax reached $74 million, mainly associated with the annual corporate tax paid. I would like to recall that the 2022 number were impacted by the effect losses, resulting in lower payment of tax once compared to 2021 figures. Finally, the financial expense amounted to $256 million, pretty in line with the last year's figures. Let's take a look to our liability management on page 19. Our gross debt decreased $0.3 billion to $4.7 billion as of December 2022, when compared to December 2021. It should be noted that the reduction by $1 billion our indebtedness when compared to June 2022.
This decrease is due to the prepayment of Enel Chile committed credit line with Enel Finance International and Nova Scotia and Mitsui drew from September 2021 and August 2022. All this debt reduction is coming from the usage of proceeds from the sales of Enel Transmisión Chile, as we committed to all our stakeholders last year. Therefore, we improved the average of our debt maturity to 6.3 years, and we also increased the fixed rate portion to 84%. In addition, the average cost of our debt declined to 4.1 as of December 2022, from 4.4 as of December 2021. In terms of liquidity, we have a very comfortable position in order to cope with possible headwinds in the debt market related to the overall economic situation, and also to support upcoming debt maturities. Now, I will hand over to Fabrizio.
Many thanks, Giuseppe. Now, I will point out some closing remarks on slide 20. Despite the very challenging environment during 2022, we have been able to deliver a more than solid operating and financial performance. This is represented by our earnings, along with our unlocking value action, that represented a turnaround story for our assets. These outstanding results led to an important improvement in our financial position, giving us room to continue pursuing our strategy towards decarbonization, electrification, zero emission, value creation for all, as we have presented in our last investor day. We will continue working to leverage our set of assets, people, and expertise through our integrated and sustainable business model, putting our clients in the front. This gives us confidence that Enel Chile is more than prepared to operate in a volatile environment and to take advantage of new opportunities. Let me now hand over to Isabel.
Thank you, Fabrizio. Thanks, Giuseppe. Thank you all for your attention. As I have anticipated, we will receive questions via phone and chat from the webcast on this occasion. The Q&A section is now open. Gigi, please, you may start.
As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Javier Suarez from Mediobanca.
Hi, good morning, many thanks for the presentation and for taking my questions. I have three. The first one is on the slide number 18, and the impact on the stabilization mechanism, and that has played an important role in 2022. The question for you is, which is your expectation of that stabilization mechanism impacting cash flow generation in the next year to come, for example, in 2023 and 2024? Any light on the possible recovery of this working capital or cash flow absorption would be helpful.
The second question I think is one, is in one of the appendices, you are mentioning the regulatory framework evolution and I'm particularly interested on your expectation from the capacity regulation of, on capacity payment. I think that on the presentation you are mentioning that the new regulations should be published during the second, on the second half of 2023. If you can help us to understand the implications for Enel Chile of this new regulation on capacity payment. The third question is on the, on the balance sheet structure of the company. There has been a significant improvement in the net debt to EBITDA of the company following the extraordinary operations. I think that as we speak, net debt to EBITDA is along the lines of 2.7 times.
on for you is, what do you consider an optimal net debt to EBITDA for a company of the profile of Enel Chile, and if you intend to continue through 2023 and into 2024 with this strategy of asset rotating as asset and management of your portfolio. The very final thing is if you can share with us your cost update in 2022 and expectations for 2023 and 2024. Thank you.
Thank you, Javier. I hand over now to Fabrizio. Fabrizio?
Yes. Let me address the second question, I hand over Giuseppe for the first and the third question. Even if I think that the third question, of course, is a very general one, usually the magic number that I've always heard about is three, anyway, Giuseppe will give you some more comments about that. The second question about the capacity payment mechanism. Well, first of all, let me highlight that this is still something that is under discussion. Of course, there are some documents that are available to the different stakeholders for their comments. We know quite well which is the current status of the proposal. Well, let me say that we don't see any particular impact in the short- term. Basically for two reasons.
There is, this is something that has to be approved. The second reason is that there is a very, quite long transition period in which the old and the new mechanism will go in parallel. We don't envisage any big impact in Enel, in Enel results, in Enel performance. In general terms, let me say that I think that what the news in this new regulations are quite aligned with our long-term objectives. They are reasonable, because in the end, the most important changes will affect best capacity payments. There will be some specific method in order to assess which would be the contribution for a storage facility to receive this capacity payment. We are very interested about that.
The other issues are more like details, like, well, reducing a little bit the solar capacity payment. Existing and under-construction plants could decide to stay with the old mechanism, and that's the reason why we don't see any big impact for us. There is also a penalization for less competitive thermal plants, like diesel plants, so the more costly units of. This is the penalization for them, but we are not involved in that part of the business, so it doesn't affect us. Let me say, in general terms, no stronger, no stronger impact on our results. In general terms, we are aligned with the intention of the regulator in introducing these changes. Giuseppe?
Yes. Okay. For what concern the recovery of the receivable, has been raised because of the new law. According to the mechanism, we expect to receive most of the amount by the end of 2023. We are talking about around $450 million. Clearly, it depends on the regulatory decree that has to be issued in order to start with the process of collection. On the other end, we are already organizing and structuring the factoring of this receivable with the PIB. We believe that if everything is going to be according to the plan, starting from the second quarter, we should start recovering part of this amount.
In any case, by the end of the year, the amount to be recovered should be around $450 million. For what concern the leverage, the optimal level of the leverage, let me say that below 3 times net debt to EBITDA is our target. This basically something that is in compliance with the requirement that we have with the rating agencies. We believe that by the end of this year, we are able to achieve this ratio. For what concern the cost of debt 2023, we are going to have a little bit an increase in terms of cost of debt that we had in 2022, because we are going to repay some short-term debt that we may have a more cheaper cost.
We believe that we are going to close lower than 5%, between 4.5% and 5%.
Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe. Gigi, do we have more questions or any follow-ups from Javier, please?
Yes. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Fernán González from BTG Pactual.
Hi, everyone. I have three questions here. One is about the distribution segment and some of the headwinds that it has been facing. I've seen some publications through Enel Distribución about the electrical cable theft that happened last year and how much it increased. Also we've seen comments in the press release related to fines by the regulator. Could you walk us through what exactly is happening to that business segment and what you can actually do to improve any problems that you may be facing?
My second question, it's on the generation segment, and I would like to hear your thoughts about the massive amounts of renewable capacity that's gonna be added this year and how the system is going to absorb that, and whether or not you believe we may be getting into an overcapacity situation here. My third question is about your green hydrogen pilot project in Magallanes, which is already producing. What's the next step here, and what will be your role in this JV? Are you gonna be the supplier of energy, or are you gonna be participating in the whole production process and exporting of the product, eventually?
Thank you, Fernan. Fabrizio?
Let me start with the third question. That is quite simple to address. We are not only delivering energy, but we are also in a 50% joint venture with IF, with AME in the green hydrogen part of the project. For what the green hydrogen production is concerned, we are in a perfectly 50/50 joint venture in all the relative issues. We are not involved in the consequent processing of the green hydrogen to transform it in a e-fuel. That is actually the final product of this pilot project in which the off taker is Porsche. We are not in this part of the industrial development.
As I said, we were not interested because in the end. As a company, we are much more focused in green hydrogen production. This is what really interest to Enel. The second question was about the generation segment. Well, let me say that it's difficult to predict that there would be a structural overcapacity in the system soon. Of course, there are huge developments in this segment, but we also know that there are some transmission constraints that should be solved in some way. We don't. We are not foreseeing a very different market results in the short to medium- term. That's basically our view.
In general terms, let me say that, of course, we are actively managing our portfolio in terms of selling energy. That of course, help us also to manage potential overcapacity risk. That I say, I don't see any way of changing drastically the situation in the short to medium- term. First question about distribution. Well, actually, what you mentioned is something that, of course, let me say defines, at least defines, it's something that is quite recurrent, let me say. I can hand over to Giuseppe if he wants to give some more details afterwards. Let me say, it's something of course, that is recurrent because this involves many activities, and we are not experiencing any particular issue in that.
This issue that is true, that is quite an increasing problem about the electric wires that are stolen. This is something that, of course, it's a more general concern, okay? This is something that is absolutely in line with the situation that Chile is facing in other, in other situation about the increasing problems with the situation or about security. Unfortunately, it's true that the number of these events is drastically increasing. There is a new, a focus, also by the government in order to introduce some more strict regulations, some more strict laws in order to prevent and disincentivize this kind of situation.
Maybe the only point that we can add is that part of this penalty are coming from the previous year, something related to before the 2020. Clearly, every time that we receive such a penalty, we are fighting in order to support our reason, because sometimes, you know, these fines are not really in agreement with our view.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you, Fernand.
Thank you. At this time, I'm showing no further questions over the phone line. I would now like to turn the conference back to Isabela Klemes.
Okay. Thank you, Gigi. We have received some questions through the chat and also through our mail. Fabrizio, Giuseppe, the first question here is coming from Rodrigo Mora from Moneda Asset Management. Rodrigo is asking two questions to us, no? The first one, if we could explain more about the gas optimization gains that were booked in the fourth quarter of this year and also in the full year of 2022. What's the meaning of gas optimization? The second question is related to the distribution business, no? What are the actions that we are doing as a company in order to improve the performance of this business? Fabrizio, Giuseppe.
Okay. Let me try to address this question. In general terms about energy distributions, let me say that, of course, this is something that is related to regulation. This is something that, of course, we are trying to manage to improve through very careful management of our investments in order to improve Quality indicators and to enable potential future opportunities that will arise with the electrification process that I think that will give some more opportunities to the distribution sector.
As a matter of fact, finally, we also welcome the fact that also the government and specifically the energy minister recently stated that distribution sector is absolutely a priority in order to review, in general sense, the regulation that we think is not appropriate. In terms of gas optimization, gas optimization is something that is absolutely core to our portfolio management, and that has become particularly relevant in 2022, and will be very relevant also in 2023. The activity, this, of course, is there are several activities that we do in order to optimize our position and take advantage of all the potential opportunities.
Of course, the most impact is driven by the sale of LNG in the international market. We sold three LNG cargos in the last year between August and December. That of course, was a particularly high price context in the market, and that was the reason why we benefited in our results, as we showed during the presentation. We are doing the same for 2023, in which we already sold four cargos in the international market, that also delivered to us very interesting margins because we carried out this activity during the second half of 2022, when the international market prices were much higher than today.
Of course, there are a lot of other optimization activities that we do also locally in terms of exchanging gas with other players in the market, and also to optimize our own production between the different power plants that we have in the country.
Okay. Thank you, Fabrizio. We also have another question coming from Ana Maria Guasca, Davivienda Corredores. Ana Maria is asking a question that is more related to our controlling shareholder, but she's asking, "With the political situation in Latin America, in which countries have you considered divesting?" As we were not answered by our controlling shareholder, I would say about, Fabrizio, if you could give some words about the, what is Chile know, including the portfolio and, if we're seeing any kind of investments on our perimeter here.
No. In general terms, of course, let me say that we cannot answer about Enel plants, but it seems quite clear, since Enel Chile was included in the list of tier one countries for any group, that means that the countries where the group can promote and foster value creation through the integrated presence along the value chain, we think that this would be something that would be confirmed in the future. More locally, so for what is concerned directly for Enel Chile, of course, we commented the sale of Enel Transmisión. We mentioned that we are continuing, always continuing to see if there is any other opportunities for value creation.
According to, of course, what is the optimal risk return profile for our assets in our portfolio. We don't see any big divestment, any disposals. There is not any big disposal in our plan. As I said, we will look, we are looking at the future with this value creation view, but nothing big is foreseen at the moment.
Okay. Thank you, Fabrizio. We have another question coming from Tomas Gonzalez from Scotiabank. Tomas is asking us two questions related to the gas agreement. After the agreement with Shell, which is going to be the new amounts of LNG shipments per year this year, and who is going to be the supplier now about this contract? The price of this new shipment is going to be higher or lower than before, given the drop in international fuel price?
Okay. Well, let me say that, well, in general terms, the contract with Shell is still there. The agreement that we made was just reduced partially, as we showed during the presentation, the amount that is under this long-term contract. But we are still, Shell would continue to be our LNG provider. For what concern 2023, let me say that after the agreement, the amount of the contract would be reduced from the original 18 cargos to 16 cargos, out of which, as I just mentioned, four were already sold in international markets. Now we are foreseen to receive, it's planned to be delivered 12 cargos to Chile. That would be like 33 TBtu this year.
Under the same agreement with Shell, the price is linked to, well, particularly now to Henry Hub. It's benefiting partially from the drop in the commodity. We already signed some agreements to be supplied also from Argentina natural gas. We already contracted 16 TBtu up to April, and we expect also to potentially source some additional volumes for the rest of the year. About the price, also Argentinian gas, of course, is pretty aligned with LNG long-term contract prices located in Chile that is significantly lower than the international market price.
Let me say that in general terms, we are continuing to look for additional opportunity to actively optimize our gas portfolio and trying to extract the maximum value from it.
Thank you, Fabrizio. We also have one more question from Alejandra Aranda, Itaú BBA. The question is also relating to the LNG, natural gas. Can you give us a ballpark idea of what the margins is for those LNG cargo sales during 2022?
2022 was quite a very particular situation. Of course, as we already mentioned, this activity almost totaled sum of $150 million last year. It was related to three cargos, plus some additional optimization activities that we carried out. Let me say that in that context, we achieved up to $40 million per cargo. This is something really unusual and of course it was much related to this particular moment. Even if, as I said, we also benefited, we are going to benefit in 2023 of some of this optimization activity because we closed this deal during the second half of 2022.
Okay, perfect. Thank you, Fabrizio. I'm checking here. We don't have any more questions, I will conclude our results conference call. Let me remind you that our investment, investor relation team is gonna be available for any doubt you may have. Many thanks for your attention. See you soon.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.