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Talisman Energy in discovery mode
Petroleum News
On Jan. 18 Calgary-based Talisman Energy announced several high deliverability gas wells as part of its ongoing exploration and development program in the Canadian Foothills and nearby Deep Basin, along with oil discoveries in Peru and the North Sea.
The North America well results “demonstrate our successful deep gas strategy in North America,” Jim Buckee, president and chief executive officer, said in a company press release.
“We are looking for big wells and we continue to find them.” Two discoveries at Monkman In the Monkman area of northeastern British Columbia, Talisman has made two new Triassic discoveries. The first well (50 percent Talisman) tested at a gross raw rate of 26 million cubic feet per day and is a follow-up to a new pool discovery.
Talisman said this well is expected to be on production by the fourth quarter of 2006.
A second well (44 percent Talisman) tested at 16 million cubic feet per day (gross, raw) and will be tied in to Talisman operated facilities early in 2006.
The company is currently drilling or evaluating five more wells in Monkman, with results expected by the end of the first quarter of 2006. 35 wells planned in Alberta Foothills in 2006 In the Central Foothills of Alberta, Talisman tied-in two Mississippian wells at Cordel (100 percent Talisman) which are producing at 3.1 million and 3.5 million cubic feet per day, respectively.
A third well at Bighorn (75 percent Talisman) tested at a gross raw rate of 12 million cubic feet per day and will be tied-in during the first quarter of 2006, the company said.
Talisman plans to drill 35 gross wells in the Alberta Foothills in 2006 with approximately one third in the Central Foothills, a mainstay of high impact wells for Talisman since the 1990s.
The majority of wells in the 2006 program will be in the Northern Alberta Foothills in the Narraway, Palliser and Grande Cache areas.
The company recently tested a Triassic well at Narraway (50 percent Talisman) at a gross raw rate of 8 million cubic feet per day. It will be tied-in later in 2006.
Talisman currently has more than 60 million cubic feet per day behind pipe in the Canadian foothills, the company said.
Talisman said numerous projects are under way to ensure these volumes are on stream in 2006, including the previously announced Lynx and Palliser Pipelines.
In the Deep basin area of Alberta, Talisman has drilled and tied-in a successful exploration well at Kakwa (100 percent Talisman).
This well is currently producing 10 million cubic feet per day. The gas is being processed at the Talisman operated Cutbank Complex. Oil discoveries in Peru Talisman also reported one of its subsidiaries has participated in an oil discovery in Block 64 in the Maranon basin in Peru.
Stephen John Calderwood, an analyst with Raymond James Ltd., was quoted in a Canadian Press article as saying the Peru discovery was the most promising.
“Talisman has accomplished a discovery in an area where there’s lots of running room, there’s lots of potential for further discoveries of similar types, and they can bring this oil on quickly because of the proximity to a pipeline. … Peru could be large,” he said. North Sea discovery In the Central UK North Sea, Talisman North Sea Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd., has made an oil discovery adjacent to the Balmoral and Beauly fields where Talisman is the operator and has a 37 percent stake.
The Block 16/22-7 well successfully tested an exploration prospect some 10 kilometers northeast of the Balmoral field, where Talisman holds a 15.13 percent interest and 15 kilometers northeast of the Beauly field of which Talisman is operator, with a 60 percent equity interest.
This well was successfully appraised by a sidetrack (16/22b-7z). The wells were not tested, however an extensive pressure and fluid sample program was carried out indicating light oil, the company said.
The discovery will be evaluated further using re-processed 3-D seismic data with a view to confirming its commerciality and, if appropriate, determining the optimal development plan.
In December Talisman said it would increase capital spending in 2006 by 36 percent to $4.4 billion with the bulk of the funds going to its North America and North Sea assets.
Talisman is a large, independent oil and gas producer with operations in Canada and, through its subsidiaries, the North Sea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the United States.
In Alaska, Talisman subsidiary FEX is currently drilling exploration wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Talisman’s subsidiaries also conduct business in Colombia, Qatar, Peru, Romania and Gabon.
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