North Slope part of Talisman’s ‘04 budget

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

A Talisman Energy subsidiary will spud the first well on its North Slope farm-in acreage this year, with a budget of C$15 million. The Calgary-based independent offered no further details in announcing a 3 percent hike in its overall capital spending this year to C$2.35 billion. The Alaska acreage, acquired by Talisman’s Fortuna Exploration subsidiary last June in a farm-in deal with operator Total E&P USA, covers 360 square miles in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Talisman CEO Jim Buckee said last year that the property contains at least four 300-500 million barrel prospects. Fortuna will participate in drilling the exploration well to earn a 30 percent interest, with the right to earn a similar stake in the remaining prospects.

Company-wide, Talisman expects Malaysia, Vietnam and Algeria to figure large in its plans to raise output by up to 12 percent this year or 445,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. It has already more than offset the loss of 60,000 bpd of production after unloading its Sudanese operations last year.

Buckee said the company has “built a high-reward exploration portfolio, with sizeable, albeit higher-risk, prospects in all our operating areas, in particular Colombia, Qatar, Alaska and Trinidad.” About 50 percent of the total exploration and development budget is earmarked for North America, 25 percent for the North Sea and 25 percent for a wide array of other international ventures.

Talisman also said it drilled a successful well near Corning, New York. The well tested at 18 million cubic feet per day and could have reached 30 million cubic feet if it had not been limited by the testing equipment.