Efficiencies drove capital spending 9% below guidance.
And with this excess cash, we increased our dividend payout by 44% and we retired $710 million of low premium debt in the quarter.
With the trifecta of an improving production profile, lower capital and reduced corporate cost, Devon is positioned to deliver an annualized free cash flow yield in the second half of the year of approximately 20% at today's pricing.
Now with this powerful stream of free cash flow, our dividend policy provides us the flexibility to return even more cash to shareholders than any company in the entire S&P 500 Index.
To demonstrate this point, we've included a simple comparison of our annualized dividend yield in the second half of 2021, assuming a 50% variable dividend payout.
Now as you can see, Devon's implied dividend yield is not only best-in-class in the E&P space, but we also possess the top rank yield in the entire S&P 500 Index by a wide margin.
In fact, at today's pricing, our yield is more than seven times higher than the average company that is represented in the S&P 500 Index.
Investors need to take notice, Devon offers a truly unique investment opportunity for the near 0 interest rate world that we live in today.
At today's prices, these structural tailwinds could result in more than $1 billion of incremental cash flow in 2022.
To put it in perspective, this incremental cash flow would represent cash flow per share growth of more than 20% year over year, if you held all other constants -- all other factors constant.
With activity focused on low-risk development, we delivered capital spending results that were 9% below plan, well productivity in the Delaware drove oil volumes above guidance and field level synergies improved operating costs.
We plan to continue to operate 16 rigs for the balance of the year and deliver approximately 150 new wells to production in the second half of 2021.
During the quarter, our capital program consisted of 13 operated rigs and four dedicated frac crews, resulting in 88 new wells that commenced first production.
This level of capital activity was concentrated around the border of New Mexico and Texas and accounted for roughly 80% of our total companywide capital investment in the quarter.
As a result of this investment, Delaware Basin's high-margin oil production continue to rapidly advance, growing 22% on a year-over-year basis.
While we had great results across our acreage position, a top contributor to the strong volume were several large pads within our Stateline and Cotton Draw areas that accounted for more than 30 new wells in the quarter.
The initial 30-day rates from activity at Stateline and Cotton Draw average north of 3,300 BOE per day and recoveries are on track to exceed 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent.
With drilling and completion costs coming in at nearly $1 million below predrill expectations, our rates of return at Cotton Draw and Stateline are projected to approach 200% at today's strip pricing.
Beginning on the left-hand side, our D&C costs have improved to $543 per lateral foot in the quarter, a decline of more than 40% from just a few years ago.
To deliver on this positive rate of change, the team achieved record-setting drill times in both Bone Spring and Wolfcamp formations with spud to release times and our best wells improving to less than 12 days.
Our completions work improved to an average of nearly 2,000 feet per day in the quarter.
With solid results we delivered in the second quarter, LOE and GP&T costs improved 7% year over year.
The Williston continues to provide phenomenal returns and at today's pricing, this asset is on track to generate nearly $700 million of free cash flow for the year.
In the Eagle Ford, we have reestablished momentum with 21 wells brought online year-to-date, resulting in second-quarter volumes advancing 20%.
As you can see with the goals outlined on this slide, we're committing to taking a leadership role by targeting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by 2050.
A critically important component of this carbon reduction strategy is to improve our methane emissions intensity by 65% by 2030 from a baseline in 2019.
Operating cash flow reached $1.1 billion, an 85% increase compared to the first quarter of this year.
This level of cash flow generation comfortably exceeded our capital spending requirements, resulting in free cash flow of $589 million for the quarter.
With this differentiated framework, we've returned more than $400 million of cash to our shareholders in the first half of the year, which exceeds the entire payout from all of last year.
This is evidenced by the announcement last night that our dividend payable on September 30 was raised for the third consecutive quarter to $0.49 per share.
This dividend represents a 44% increase versus last quarter and is more than a fourfold increase compared to the period a year ago.
In the second quarter, we retired $710 million of debt, bringing our total debt retired year-to-date to over $1.2 billion.
Our low leverage is also complemented by a liquidity position of $4.5 billion and a debt profile with no near-term maturities.
As always, the first call in our free cash flow is to fully fund our fixed dividend of $0.11 per share.
After funding the fixed dividend, up to 50% of the excess free cash flow in any given quarter will be allocated to our variable dividend.
This is resulting in a dividend yield that's the highest in the entire S&P 500 Index.

Summary:
This dividend represents a 44% increase versus last quarter and is more than a fourfold increase compared to the period a year ago.