FORT WORTH, Texas—Apache Corp. (APA) is reloaded and ready for what lies ahead, said Faron Thibodeaux, vice president of the company's Permian Basin region.

The Houston company projects its 2015 capex in North America will be about $2.1- to $2.3 billion with "a lion’s share" for the Permian Basin, Thibodeaux told attendees at Hart Energy's DUG Permian conference on May 20.

"We’re just not emphasizing the Permian at Apache, we’ve emphasized it and will continue to grow it in the future," he said.

The company, which started the year out under new leadership, is the second largest producer of oil in gas in the Permian Basin and the third largest leaseholder.

In January 2015, John Christmann succeeded G. Steven Farris as president and CEO. Christmann, who has been with Apache for 18 years, established the company's Permian Basin-Midland office.

He helped increase production in the Permian Basin to an average of 159,000 boe/d in 2014, from about 52,000 boe/d in 2010 when the company entered the play.

"It doesn’t happen very often where your company is able to get under new leadership," Thibodeaux said. "It’s happening for us now. John is taking the bull by the horns and we’re fully behind him and aligned to support him."

The company’s portfolio also went through a transformation in the past five years and is now focused on North America unconventionals.

About 64% of the company’s production in the first quarter of 2015 was from its North American onshore operations, Thibodeaux said. In contrast, in 2009, two-thirds of the company’s production was from international and Gulf of Mexico operations while only one-third was from North America onshore operations.

In 2015, the company will allocate 85% of its capital on nine primary plays in North America—three of which are in the Permian Basin. Its position in the Permian is large and diverse, allowing the company some flexibility, Thibodeaux said.

"We are moving to the cores of those areas that add the most value for us,” he said. “We believe we’ve got a good understanding of what those are.”

The company plans to run an average of four to five rigs in the Delaware Basin, two to four rigs in the Southern Midland Basin and two to three rigs in the Central Basin Platform/Northwest Self. It currently has a backlog of wells in the Delaware Basin. The company is looking to complete those wells later this year, he said.

"Once cash flows tells us it’s time to ramp up, we will ramp up," he said. "But we will do it very diligently."

The company has a large 3-D seismic inventory in the Permian Basin covering 12,500 square miles, which is about 8 million acres. And it will continue gathering high-quality data while costs remain low.

In 2015, the company will reprocess about 2,600 square miles of acres in the basin and acquire about 500 square miles as well, Thibodeaux said.

"That’s data is going to be with us for some time and our people are extremely excited at having that data to work," he said. "We’re getting a large amount of value creation."

Apache also has newbuild commitments in the Permian Basin and plans to proceed as planned despite the oil price downturn. The technology the newbuild rigs bring will end up paying for themselves, Thibodeaux said.

"These things are in for the long haul and I’m looking forward to seeing immediate cost efficiencies with using those rigs," he said.

Thibodeaux took over the largest region in Apache's North America portfolio in July 2014, around the time crude oil hit its peak.

The company reacted quickly when prices began to plunge, he said. The company cut its capital budget by more than 60% and brought its rig count in North American down to about 14 from 90 rigs in the summer of 2014.

"That’s what a ramp down looks like in the 80-90 rig range," he said. "If you were a snow skier, I think you would call that slope a black—and it’s felt like one."

Despite the drop in activity, the current downturn is allowing the company to continue to focus on creating value, he said.

"When you’re running quite fast, you’re probably sacrificing a little bit of value so we’re now being able to slow down and take this vast knowledge of work that we’ve accumulated for four years and then put it to good use through our look-backs," he said.

Thibodeaux said the biggest thing for Apache now is to maintain its activity at the level it needs survive for the short term and position itself for success.

Contact the author, Emily Moser, emoser@hartenergy.com.