In his first year as Repsol CEO, Josu Jon Imaz helped lead the largest acquisition by a Spanish company this decade, the $13 billion purchase of Talisman Energy.

His task now is to explain the expanded company’s strategy as Spain’s biggest oil producer switches from growth to integration. So far, investors aren’t showing much enthusiasm.

Based on analysts’ target prices, Repsol is expected to underperform the 18-member Bloomberg Intelligence Global Integrated Oil Index. That’s despite it being only one of five companies where profits are predicted to rise next year.

“The strategic plan will be presented in November and it will show financial discipline,” Imaz, 51, said at Repsol’s headquarters in Madrid.

Imaz’s road map for the company is potentially the most significant change of strategy since a similar exercise undertaken by today’s chairman and then CEO, Antonio Brufau, in 2007. Imaz, a chemist and former minister in the Basque government who joined Repsol in 2008, is focusing on increasing cash flow and reducing costs.

He’ll be helped by Repsol’s ability to weather the slump in oil prices better than some rivals on the back of its refinery division, which Imaz oversaw until he became CEO in April 2014. His investments in aging plants are bearing fruit.

The company’s refining margin, a measure of profits from turning crude oil into fuel, reached $8.7/bbl in the first quarter, making it the highest among European producers fully focused on Europe.

“We have the advantage of our downstream operations,” Imaz said.

While the company’s share price has recovered from the uncertainty that followed the 2012 nationalization of its YPF unit by Argentina, it’s risen just 5.9% since the Talisman deal was announced. That compares with a 14% rise in the Bloomberg Intelligence Global Integrated Oil Index over the same period.

Production from Talisman’s assets is expected to almost double Repsol’s output to around 700,000 bpd. To avoid growing too big as new projects come on stream and dilute the contribution of refining, the company aims to divest certain assets over time.

Moreover, the company needs to maintain its credit rating, which stands at BBB- at Standard & Poor’s, the lowest investment grade. The Talisman deal included almost $5 billion of debt owed by the Canadian producer. With crude trading near $60/bbl, the company is reluctant to sell production assets and will start with downstream assets like pipelines.

“We have to wait to sell oil-related assets,” Imaz said. “We have $1 billion to $2 billion in assets that we could sell in the next few months that aren’t related to oil.”

Swapping assets is another possibility for the company, especially as a way to reduce exposure to certain areas, Imaz said.

Still, the company will bring on projects that it’s been developing for years, such as the offshore Pao de Acucar and Sapinhoa fields in Brazil, according to Repsol chairman Brufau, who spoke alongside Imaz.

“We have many projects that are young, that have to come into operation and will show up” in our earnings, Brufau said.