Upbeat Alberta Energy, Talisman news lifts index
The Globe & Mail, Wednesday, April 18
By DAVID PARKINSON
CALGARY -- Alberta Energy Co. and Talisman Energy Inc. posted big gains on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, as the companies released impressive exploration news into a market growing increasingly bullish on energy stocks.
Alberta Energy gained $1.65 to close at $73.75 a share, after the Calgary-based company boosted its 2001 production forecasts as a result of a hugely successful winter drilling program at its Ladyfern natural gas discovery in northeastern British Columbia. Talisman, also of Calgary, climbed $2.06 to close at $64.06, after unveiling a "significant" oil discovery in the North Sea.
The two stocks contributed to the 1.5-per-cent rise in the TSE's oil and gas index yesterday, to 9,329.31. The index peaked at a record high 9,334.49, amid expectations that the sector's key players will post record earnings when they release their first-quarter results starting this week.
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Talisman reported that the discovery well on its 76.7-per-cent-owned Lucy exploration block, adjacent to the Talisman-operated Piper oil field, generated preliminary reserve estimates for the field of between 20 million and 50 million barrels of crude oil.
It estimated that the well was capable of producing at more than 15,000 barrels a day.
Talisman said production from Lucy could begin in late 2002. |
