Talisman the Traveling Man

As a longtime fan of the Travel Channel, I think I could become partial to Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM). The Calgary-based company conducts its business in the most varied collection of locations I've noted from any non-major.

But before I take you tripping off to some of those locations -- which I think make the company a keeper -- let's talk briefly about its latest quarter. In the June-ended period, Talisman boosted its cash flow to a record $1.7 billion, a 44% improvement from the same quarter a year ago. That, for an exploration and production company, is a far more meaningful metric than its net income, which actually was down by 23%. Its production was down somewhat, but increased on an apples-to-apples basis, after asset sales.

Talisman operates in such scenic locations as Vietnam; West Texas; Utah; Iraq; Canada's Montney Formation; and the Bakken light oil play in North Dakota, Montana, and Canada. No wonder management commented that, among its strategic commitments, it'll "focus the portfolio."

In the Montney, where it has drilled 18 wells, it'll soon be a neighbor of Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) (NYSE: RDS-B), thanks to Shell's pending acquisition of Duvernay Oil.

And in the Bakken, Talisman plans to have 56 wells operating this year, although it has completed only 11 in the first half. Its neighbors in the Bakken include the likes of Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR), Hess (NYSE: HES), and EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG). The Bakken is part of the company's promising push to become more active in North America's unconventional plays. It expects to spend about $1.5 billion on exploration and development activities in those tracts this year.

I'm here to urge Fools to look at this interesting -- although peripatetic -- company. While I'd ideally wait for the asset focusing to have an effect, there are enough positives here to warrant attention.