In late May, I decided it was time to take note of Talisman Energy
During the period, Talisman's production averaged a hair over 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Year to date, production from continuing operations has notched a 2% rise. That's modest compared to the efficient growth over at Anadarko Petroleum
Take the company's recently expanded footprint in two of its key North American unconventional plays.
First, there's the Marcellus Shale. Talisman has doubled its "Tier 1" (i.e. economic at $4 natural gas) leasehold to 180,000 acres this year. That's small compared to Range Resources'
In Canada, Talisman is focused on the Montney and Utica shales, but the former is closer to commercialization. The greater Montney play, which straddles the British Columbia/Alberta border, is huge, with industry estimates of up to 600 trillion cubic feet of original gas in place (even more than in the Marcellus). No wonder Royal Dutch Shell
Talisman divides its interests here between the Montney Core (primarily sand/siltstone geology) and the Montney Shale. Both plays are amenable to horizontal drilling, so the two are easily conflated. The shale play will see 20 pilot wells drilled this year, with commercialization expected in 2010.
With six rigs running by year-end in the Marcellus, this play will be a bigger growth driver in the near term. Both plays have great potential over the next decade and beyond. The Utica is a wild card at this point, but probably merits at least a modest nod in your valuation.
Speaking of which, Talisman shares look quite attractive on the basis of current production, which, like Apache