Talisman shifts focus to unconventional plays

Talisman Energy Inc. today reported second-quarter net income of $603 million during the three months ended June 30, a nearly tenfold surge in comparing to $63 million in the period in the year-ago.

Talisman has been shifting its focus toward unconventional natural gas plays in Canada and the United States.

In particular, The Calgary-based firm has amassed substantial land positions in the Horn River and Montney plays in the northeastern British Columbia as well as the Marcellus play in the northeastern United States. It also has less developed holdings in Quebec shale.

Despite the lower expected spending next year, Talisman has said it can still boost production from its shale holdings.

Aside from North American shale gas, Talisman´s poised to enter Europe´s emerging shale gas industry, with plans to drill its first three wells in Poland in the middle of next year in partnership with PKN Orlen SA, Poland’s largest oil refiner.

Poland’s rocks are similar to those found in North America’s Montney and Marcellus plays, Richard Herbert, Talisman’s executive vice-president of exploration, said Tuesday. “[Poland’s plays] are much, much thicker, so there’s a big upside in the Polish shales if they are in fact gas-bearing,” said Herbert. The company will begin seismic activity in Poland the fourth quarter.

“It is an area that has had quite a land rush – a lot of companies have moved in there,” Mr. Herbert said. Talisman is a 60% partner in three blocks in Poland’s north, near the Baltic Sea.

Location may be just as attractive as quantity for Talisman.

“Talisman identified Poland as a country with attractive geological conditions and access to European gas markets,” Tony Atherton, Talisman’s country manager for Poland, said at the recent Global Shale Gas Summit in Warsaw.

“It is very important just because it is another shale play,” said Phil Skolnick, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity Inc. “It kind of balances that North American price gas risk, because you’re going into a European market. The geology looks the same, so you don’t have a learning curve.”

For Poland and its neighbours, the discovery of commercial amounts of shale gas could reduce energy dependence on Russian energy sources.

Poland’s shale and tight gas reserves may be as much as three trillion cubic meters, according to estimates by Advanced Resources International, a U.S. energy research firm.

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Posted by admin on July 27th, 2010. Filed under Horn River, Marcellus Shale, Shale Basins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry