Talisman plans record $3.1 billion E&D spending in 2005

Petroleum News

Talisman Energy Inc. said Jan. 11 that it will spend “a record” of $3.1 billion for exploration and development in 2005, an increase of some 15 percent from the company’s 2004 exploration and development spending.

Alaska, said Talisman President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckee in a statement, is part of the company’s “high impact wildcat exploration” program. The company will spend “upwards of $20 million in Alaska (in 2005) with a view to drilling our next exploration well there in 2006.”

Talisman subsidiary Fortuna Exploration has more than half a million acres on Alaska’s North Slope, onshore and offshore the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, including acreage it shared with Total E&P USA, which assigned eight of its 20 leases in NPR-A to Fortuna. Fortuna partnered with Total in an exploration well drilled in 2004 on the Caribou prospect in NPR-A. Total dropped all but three of its 20 leases in NPR-A last fall.

Talisman said at that time it would probably drill in the winter of 2005-2006.

Talisman executive vice president, exploration John ‘t Hart, said in November that Fortuna would need to gather seismic data before drilling on what he called a “couple of very big prospects” on its NPR-A acreage.