Talisman reports discoveries in North America, Peru and North Sea

Talisman Energy announced the discovery of several "high-deliverability" natural gas wells in the Canadian Foothills and the nearby Deep Basin, along with oil discoveries in Peru and the North Sea.
The North American drilling results "demonstrate our successful deep gas strategy," chief executive Jim Buckee said.
"We are looking for big wells and we continue to find them."

Calgary-based Talisman said it made two gas discoveries in the Monkman area of north-eastern British Columbia, one of Canada's most prolific new natural gas producing areas. One of the wells is expected to be producing gas by the fourth quarter of 2006, and the second well will be tied into Talisman-operated pipelines and processing infrastructure early this year.
Talisman is drilling or evaluating five more wells in Monkman.

In the Central Foothills of Alberta, Talisman tied in two wells at Cordel that are producing at 3.1 mm and 3.5 mm cf of gas a day, respectively. A third well at Bighorn will be tied in during the first quarter.
Talisman plans to drill 35 wells in the Alberta Foothills in 2006. In the Deep Basin area of Alberta, Talisman said it drilled and tied in a successful exploration well at Kakwa. The well is producing 10 mm cf of gas per day.

Talisman also reported that one of its subsidiaries has participated in an oil discovery in Block 64 in the Maranon Basin in Peru. The partners involved are evaluating future plans for the new oil deposit.
In the central British North Sea, a Talisman subsidiary has made an oil discovery next to the Balmoral and Beauly fields. The discovery was made in Block 16/22 and is operated by Talisman. The discovery of light oil will be evaluated further using reprocessed 3-D seismic data with a view to confirming its commerciality and, if appropriate, determining the best development plan, Talisman said.

Stephen John Calderwood, an analyst with Raymond James Ltd., said the Peru discovery was the most promising of the Talisman announcements.
"Talisman hasaccomplished 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," he said. "Peru could be large."

In December, Talisman said it would boost its capital spending budget by 36 % to $ 4.4 bn in 2006, with the bulk of the money going to its North American and North Sea assets. That spending outlook came after the company's recent $ 2.5-bn takeover of British-based Paladin Resources, which holds significant oil and gas acreage in the North Sea.
Talisman is one of Canada's largest independent energy companies with operations in Canada, the US, Southeast Asia and Algeria, as well as exploration projects in Trinidad and offshore Qatar.