Talisman wins Malaysian oil and gas exploration block
31-03-04 Talisman Malaysia has taken over the operatorship of Malaysia's offshore exploration block PM-314 from Amerada Hess Malaysia.
Talisman, a unit of Canadian independent Talisman Energy, was awarded a production-sharing contract by Malaysia's state-owned Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas.
This follows the expiry of a PSC held since 1998 by Amerada Hess, a unit of US independent Amerada Hess Corp.
Under the new PSC, Talisman Malaysia will hold a 60 % interest and Petronas Carigali -- the upstream arm of Petronas -- the remaining 40 % stake. Block PM-314 covers 10,200 sq km in the Malay Basin, adjacent to existing oil and natural gas producing fields, Petronas said.
Talisman is among a group of independent firms entering smaller upstream areas in Malaysia passed over by the majors.
The company in August 2001 bought a 41.4 % share in Block PM-3 in the southern Gulf of Thailand, the main gas field in the $ 800 mm Malaysia-Vietnam Commercial Agreement Area. It also operates Malaysia's BlockPM-305, where it announced a 25 mm-barrel oil discovery last May.
Source: Dow Jones
