|
Talisman puts eggs in shale basket
Gary Park For Petroleum News
Talisman Energy is keeping mum about its Alaska interests as it gears up for the possible sale this year of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of gas-weighted properties which could fetch up to C$3 billion.
It also doesn’t rule out a copycat move by following EnCana’s lead and reorganizing into two separate, publicly traded units — but emphasized that a split is not yet on the horizon.
The Canadian independent rolled out some of its near-term strategies Jan. 11 in announcing a 2010 capital budget of C$5.2 billion, up 10 percent from 2009, with no mention of Alaska, where Talisman’s interests are operated by subsidiary FEX.
The program merely reinforced Talisman’s intense pursuit of “portfolio transition” to its North American shale properties, which will receive C$1.6 billion, little changed from 2009.
Close to C$1 billion is allocated to the Marcellus play in Pennsylvania and C$550 million will go to the Montney play in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.
Ramping up development The company said its main goal this year will be to move from adding to its shale holdings to ramping up development from 70 development and pilot wells in 2009 to more than 200 in 2010.
That includes a doubling of development drilling in Pennsylvania’s portion of the Marcellus, which stretches from New York to Quebec.
An initial horizontal pilot well is scheduled for Quebec and two more are likely in 2010.
“North American shale emerges as the main near-term production growth engine,” said chief executive officer John Manzoni.
“Having built an inventory of 10 years’ worth of shale gas drilling locations, this year the focus will shift to commercial development and drilling,” he said.
Manzoni said there is flexibility in the capital program — based on forecast oil prices of US$60 per barrel and gas prices of US$3.50 per million British thermal units — to shift spending up or down throughout the year.
While Talisman will remain vigilant for strategic acquisition opportunities, its divestitures will be heavily concentrated on the central Alberta Foothills, greater Hinton and greater Peace River Arch regions.
Montney program could be dialed up Manzoni said that Marcellus output should reach 250-300 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2010, up from 65 million currently, while Montney is targeted at 40-60 million cubic feet per day.
“We have the flexibility to dial up our Montney program,” said Paul Smith, executive vice president of North American operations.
Production for 2010 is expected to be 425,000 boe per day, excluding any asset sales, about the same as 2009, from Talisman’s far-flung operations in the British North Sea, Norway and Southeast Asia.
Probed on whether a corporate split along the EnCana lines could unlock greater value, Manzoni said he has always “maintained that the portfolio today is working in a complementary way.”
“Maybe as we go forward it’s quite possible that the different parts of the company could stand alone.
“That would be a nice problem to have. I don’t think we’re there yet and you only get that opportunity once,” he said.
Manzoni said he is open to “structural adjustment of the company if we believed that value was being somewhat trapped inside the company.”
| 