Sudan: Talisman has many offers from oil barons wanting to buy the holdings in Sudan
Quotes from today's Calgary Sun, Financial Post, Globe & Mail and Canadian Press
(Full articles see: Subject 18614 )
CEO Jim Buckee told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting yesterday that he won't turn his back on Sudan and sell to an operator that wouldn't work as hard as Talisman has at trying to improve the lives of Sudanese caught in the middle of a bloody civil war.
"There are lots of (potential) buyers. I've got offers on my desk," said Buckee.
"But we're bringing Canadians and Canadian values to an area that needs it. We are moving behaviour, we are moving opinion by our presence and our assistance in health, safety, the environment and human rights."
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Buckee told shareholders that Talisman can do more good for Sudan by being involved there, rather than selling its interest, likely to its partners in the project which include the state-owned petroleum companies of China, Malaysia and Sudan.
"You have to think that if Talisman wasn't there, you wouldn't even know about it," Buckee told one shareholder.
"Nobody is denying that there are tragic things going on in Sudan," said Buckee. "The question is what to do about it."
Talisman argues that it builds schools and hospitals for villages near its holdings and that it exerts influence on the government to try to end the war.
The company also believes Sudan's oil potential is huge and it has drilled 10 new wells this year.
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Mr. Buckee rejected any notion of the company withdrawing from Sudan as a result of pressure from human rights groups.
"I don't think they're right, I think we're right. We send Canadians, Canadian values down into this area." He added that the Sudan oil project, which saw the biggest production increase of all Talisman's operating areas at 19 per cent, is a good one for the company.
"We fail to see how things could be better if Talisman withdrew," Mr. Buckee replied to critics.
"From what we've seen and read, our perspective that we're helping people, I think, is gaining currency," Mr. Buckee said, citing the stances of the Canadian government and governments in Europe which have advocated policies of "constructive engagement" when it comes to doing business in Sudan.
"I would say slowly but surely, people are coming around to our point of view that, yes, peace is needed, yes, it's been a long tragedy, but Talisman withdrawing isn't going to help anything," Mr. Buckee said at a press conference following the annual meeting.
Martin Molyneaux, research director of Calgary investment firm FirstEnergy Capital Corp., estimated company shares could be roughly $5 higher if not for pressure over its presence in Sudan.
However, he added the discount is gradually disappearing as the company posts successively strong quarters.
"It's very hard to say that we're at this multiple because of Sudan," Buckee said.
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A defiant Jim Buckee, president and chief executive of Talisman Energy Inc., said yesterday after a raucous annual meeting he has received several offers for the company's controversial operations in war-torn Sudan, but he does not want to sell.
"I think we are right. send Canadians, Canadian values down into this area that needs it, and we are moving behaviour, we are moving opinion by our presence, by our systems on health, safety, environment, human rights, corporate contributions," he said.
Mr. Buckee said observers are coming around to Talisman's point of view that withdrawal from Sudan would not help solve the conflict.
Mr. Buckee repeatedly drew applause from shareholders and employees over his passionate defence of Talisman's activities in the country and its efforts to influence its government.
"We share the same values you do," he told critics. "We are doing good things in Sudan."
The company beefed up its efforts to put its Sudanese operations in a positive light by showing videos of a school and hospital it is supporting near its oil installations.
It also showed satellite images of its oil concession area in Sudan -- shot over the past 35 years -- that it says refute claims of widespread population displacement. |
