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Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (1166)	7/1/1999 12:26:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Talisman gets tangled in Sudan politics - Protesters picket outside TSE as oil begins to flow The Financial Post, July 1 By Claudia Cattaneo CALGARY - Talisman Energy Inc., Canada's largest independent oil company, took another barrage of criticism yesterday over its role in an oil project in Sudan. The Greater Nile Oil Project, which the Calgary-based company acquired last year, started producing crude this week after 25 years of development marred by civil strife. In Toronto, a group of protesters outside the Toronto Stock Exchange accused the company of sponsoring genocide in Sudan. The Southern Sudanese Community Organization of Greater Toronto said Sudan's government is counting on Talisman to generate oil revenues for its military campaigns against its own people. The Sudanese government has denied that. The country has been torn by civil war for the past 16 years. Protesters said 1.9 million people have been killed, mostly women and children. James Buckee, Talisman's president and chief executive, said he fails to see how stopping the project would be a "humanitarian act." Saying Sudan needs foreign investment, he quoted statistics from the International Monetary Fund showing the Sudanese have a life expectancy of 53.5 years, infant mortality of 74 per 1,000 live births, an illiteracy rate of 54%, school enrolment of 20% at the secondary school level and access to safe water available to only 45% of the population. "We think it's time to move on," said Mr. Buckee, who's been drawn into the conflict despite efforts to stay out of Sudan's complex internal politics. "Let's try sharing some wealth instead of just sharing poverty. The government at least says that the revenue will be used for health, education, etc., especially in the south," he said. Canadian church groups and refugee organizations are also on Talisman's case. The groups are pressing the company and the federal government for assurances oil revenues from the project won't be used to grease the wheels of war. As well, they are approaching Talisman shareholders to raise awareness about the implications of the company's activities in the region. Lee Holland, area secretary for East and Central Africa for the United Church of Canada, said Talisman should make use of its contacts with the Sudanese government to press for peace. Mr. Holland is also a member of an advisory committee on the Talisman issue organized by the Task Force on Churches and Corporate Responsibility and of the Sudan Interagency Reference Group. "They [the company] say they can't do that because that is political and they don't do political things. Their very involvement there is a political statement," Mr. Holland said. Foreign affairs spokesman Andre Lemay said the federal government has discouraged Talisman for pursuing the investment. But he said there are currently no domestic laws or international sanctions preventing companies from doing business there. "We are trying to support the Sudan peace process. Once peace comes back, and violations are stopped, the peace agreement will serve everyone, including Talisman," Mr. Lemay said. Mr. Buckee said he is talking to the Sudanese government about peace. "When we talk to the ministers, we talk about ethics and peace, and the government is making attempts at peace and reconciliations. They are also tired of 10 years of war." canoe.com

To: Tomas who wrote (1166)	7/1/1999 12:29:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 2742

Protesters target Talisman - But local energy firm defends business in Sudan Calgary Sun, July 1 By CP TORONTO -- Talisman Energy Inc. of Calgary is sponsoring genocide in Sudan, a group of protesters outside the Toronto Stock Exchange said yesterday. The oil and gas producer responded the group's view of the conflict in the African country is "very simplistic" and "development has to be better than the absence of development." Sudan's government "is counting on the Canadian company Talisman Energy to generate oil revenues for its continued military campaigns against its own people," the Southern Sudanese Community Organization of Greater Toronto said ahead of the demonstration by about 50 people. "Sudanese blood is on the hands of Canadians who independently or through their mutual funds own Talisman Energy shares," said spokesman Manock Lual, citing a figure of 1.9 million people killed in Sudan's civil strife since 1983. He said the northern-based National Islamic Front government plans to sustain a campaign of starvation, torture, slavery and killing against Christian Sudanese by using revenue from drilling operations and a pipeline from the south partly financed and created by Talisman. "Sudan is a very complex place," said Talisman president Jim Buckee. "It has suffered from war ... development gives the option of moving forward." canoe.ca

To: Tomas who wrote (1166)	7/1/1999 12:37:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2742

Talisman energizes Sudan 'genocide': protesters - Calgary Herald, July 1 By Gary Norris TORONTO (Canadian Press) - Talisman Energy Inc. of Calgary is sponsoring genocide in Sudan, a group of protesters outside the Toronto Stock Exchange said Wednesday. The oil and gas producer responded that the group's view of the conflict in the African country is "very simplistic" and that "development has to be better than the absence of development." Sudan's government "is counting on the Canadian company Talisman Energy to generate oil revenues for its continued military campaigns against its own people," the Southern Sudanese Community Organization of Greater Toronto said in a news release ahead of the demonstration by about 50 people. "Sudanese blood is on the hands of Canadians who independently or through their mutual funds own Talisman Energy shares," asserted spokesman Manock Lual, citing a figure of 1.9 million people killed in Sudan's civil strife since 1983, mostly women and children. Lual said the northern-based National Islamic Front government plans to sustain a campaign of starvation, torture, slavery and killing against Christian and animist southern Sudanese by using revenue from drilling operations and an oil pipeline from the south partly financed and created by Talisman. "Sudan is a very complex place," Talisman president and chief executive Jim Buckee responded from Calgary. "It has suffered from war - devastation. . . . Development gives the option of moving forward." Talisman is one of Canada's most internationaloil producers, with operations in Africa, the Far East and in the North Sea. The Sudan oil project - 40 per cent owned by China's national petroleum company, 30 per cent by Malaysia's national oil company, 25 per cent by Talisman and five per cent by the Sudanese national oil company Sudapet - "will go ahead with or without us, albeit better with us, we hope," Buckee said. "The presence of Talisman is beneficial in that it brings a western involvement into the affairs of the state." Sudanese government officials "want peace, they talk about peace and reconciliation, they keep inviting people to discuss peace," he said, adding that "there's lot's of bad stuff to be dished around on all sides." Southern Sudan, Buckee said, is a turbulent welter of 300 tribes, with some of the biggest at each other's throats, and three million of five million southern refugees have fled to the north. Buckee said Talisman, with "some hundreds of millions" sunk into the Hegglig oilfield which has proven reserves of 800 million barrels, is "an easy target because we're visible in Canada." He added that the Sudanese government's take from the project, about 75 per cent of the net proceeds after cost recovery, is among the lowest in the world - "certainly a lot better than the regime in Canada." Talisman shares were up $1.40 at $40.05 on the Toronto stock market during the protest. The demonstrators want Canadians "to call their mutual fund managers and specifically request that they de-list Talisman from their portfolio if they want to ensure that the genocide in Sudan does not continue to enjoy their financial support," said Thomas Kedini, a member of the Southern Sudanese Community Organization. "We hope that a public outcry against this policy will force Talisman to reconsider their involvement with this despotic regime and sever their relationship with the project." Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy urged Canadian companies in March to uphold codes of conduct in doing business with Sudan's government. This followed a demand from a church coalition that Axworthy ban Talisman from helping Sudan develop its oil resources. "We in any country have to respond to the government in power - that's not endorsement or anything, that's just the way it is," Buckee said Wednesday. "There has been a low-level civil war going all the time, and that's pretty terrible. We're saying you've got to move on, you can't just stay there slugging it out." southam.com