In January, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) hit a $5.15 billion sinkhole it could not avoid, paying to settle the Tronox contamination case it acquired along with Kerr-McGee in 2006.

Despite such a heavy financial hit and cratered oil prices, few companies have the financial wherewithal and discipline to match Anadarko.

The company paid the settlement—the largest payment for the clean-up of environmental contamination ever obtained in a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice—using cash on hand and borrowings.

The Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko is now in a position to do quick deals, sell assets and operate at a slower pace as it works out any kinks in its international operations.

“Anadarko’s unique combination of low leverage, tremendous liquidity, and highly diversified portfolio of economically attractive short, medium and longer cycle assets places them in a position to act defensively, but also thrive in both the near-term and long-term,” said David Kistler, analyst, Simmons & Co. International.

The company has excelled at financial stewardship. Despite its portfolio of economically attractive short cycle assets, management is more focused on disciplined deployment of capital and the potential for higher future returns rather than near and medium term growth, Kistler said.

The company continues to make deals following a five year stretch in which it divested $4.5 billion in assets. In one pending transaction, the company will sell its EOR assets for $700 million. Anadarko’s EOR projects in the Rockies averaged 14,000 barrels of oil per day in net sales volumes in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Anadarko said in March it is buying a 20% equity interest in the Saddlehorn Pipeline Co. Saddlehorn is building a 550-mile pipeline from the Rockies to Cushing, Okla., that could cost as much as $850 million.

The company may well have more planned. Anadarko is known to surprise investors by selling assets that no one knows they own.

Bolt-on transactions in key U.S. onshore plays are a possibility. Anadarko has said that in the past they have been priced out of transactions over the last few years as large sums of money entered the sector, prices were bid up, and its internal capital projects returned better profits than targets.

But 2015 is a different story.

The company has about $3 billion on hand after the Tronox settlement and $8 billion in borrowing power.

Spending, Not Spending

For now, Anadarko is not in a rush to spend capital on low returns.

Anadarko expects its capex to be $5.4 billion to $5.8 billion.

“We suspect APC will continue to benefit from active portfolio management, while preserving the tremendous [flexibility] to accelerate spending and generate even greater returns from the highly economic Wattenberg, as well as the Eagle Ford and Delaware basins,” Kistler said.

The company has reduced its U.S. onshore rig count by 40% from 2014 and is deferring completions on about 125 wells until costs align with commodity prices.

The company said in a presentation March 24 that it would leverage midstream assets and build a foundation for Wolfcamp growth.

In the Eagle Ford, the company has reduced its rig count to five from 10, but still plans to drill 200 wells while holding off on about 30 completions.

Anadarko overseas: