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Gold/Mining/Energy : TLM.TSE Talisman Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (1195)	4/11/2001 6:31:46 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 1713

Talisman buys out Petromet - Busy day for oil giant Calgary Sun, April 11 By TODD NOGIER, BUSINESS EDITOR It was a busy day for Calgary-based oil and gas giant Talisman Energy, which released a controversial report on its operations in Sudan, incurred the wrath of church groups and announced a nearly billion-dollar deal -- all within a few hours. Talisman, one of Canada's largest independent producers, said yesterday it signed a friendly takeover of crosstown rival Petromet Resources Ltd., in an $806-million, $13.20-per-share cash deal aimed at growing its burgeoning natural gas operations in central Alberta. Talisman has had its eye on Petromet's assets for a year and, with the deal, has bolstered its effort to become a dominant player in that field. "This is a good mix here of assets and opportunities," said Talisman's CEO Jim Buckee. "It establishes west Edson as a growing core gas area for Talisman, and under our gas price forecast, this acquisition could pay out completely by late next year." Buckee said Petromet's holdings add more than 110-million cubic feet per day of sweet low-cost gas -- a number that's projected to grow 14% by next year. Talisman expects the takeover will expand its daily gas production to 850 million cubic feet per day this year, and about 975 million cubic feet a day in And Buckee hinted the company isn't finished its buying binge yet. With some $300 million cash on hand and a $1 billion line of credit, Talisman can continue to search for more "appropriate acquisitions," said Buckee. Meanwhile, Talisman came under fire by church groups renewing calls for the company to abandon oil operations in war-torn Sudan. The Inter-Church Coalition on Africa said royalties and taxes paid by Talisman to the government, estimated at over $300 million last year, are fuelling the civil war in the African nation and adding to the carnage. Talisman issued an "independently verified" corporate social responsibility report which said the company will expand community development initiatives in Sudan, including provision of water wells, health clinics and schools.

To: Tomas who wrote (1195)	4/11/2001 6:37:38 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1713

Jim Buckee defines face of unapologetic Talisman - Globe & Mail, April 11 BRENT JANG CALGARY -- Jim Buckee isn't afraid to go against the grain. He is nothing if not persistent in implementing Talisman Energy's growth strategy and consistent in his own scientific beliefs. Over the past couple of years, the chief executive officer of Calgary-based Talisman has staunchly defended his company's investment in Sudan and lashed out against the Kyoto accord on reducing greenhouse gases. Even though Mr. Buckee has toned down his message in recent months, he represents the unapologetic face of Talisman in Canada and abroad. When Talisman went on the acquisition trail with yesterday's friendly offer for Petromet Resources, he appeared as a polite suitor, in contrast to the unsuccessful hostile run he took at Wascana Energy four years ago. He has overseen plenty of successes, such as the discovery of huge natural gas deposits in Alberta and expansion in the North Sea and Indonesia. Wascana was a notable disappointment when in 1997 Canadian Occidental (now called Nexen) emerged as the white knight to rescue it from Talisman's hostile bid. During times such as yesterday's news release on Talisman's good deeds in war-torn Sudan, Mr. Buckee comes across to devoted shareholders as a sincere CEO and to human rights groups as a corporate apologist. That kind of tension gives us a glimpse into what makes Mr. Buckee so intriguing and sometimes a loose cannon. He wants to do what's right for Talisman, but that puts him directly at odds with those who oppose the company's 25-per-cent stake in the Sudanese project run by the Greater Nile Petroleum consortium. He wants to be environmentally responsible, but figures that the majority of scientists are dumber than a sack of telescopes for buying into the view that carbon dioxide is the chief villain in excessive global warming. Mr. Buckee isn't on anyone's list to be Mr. Congeniality in Canada's oil patch and he is also far from your button-down oil executive who focuses on financial and operating data. Born in Winchester, England, in 1946, James W. Buckee's first passion was physics, graduating with first-class honours with a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Western Australia in 1967. He obtained his PhD in astrophysics at Oxford University in 1970, which helps explain why his bed-time reading material includes arcane scientific journals. Mr. Buckee began his petroleum career with engineering jobs at Shell International and Burma Oil. Later career moves would take him to British Petroleum in Canada and the Middle East from 1977 to 1983, then a promotion to chief reservoir engineer with BP in London in 1983. As a BP man climbing the corporate ladder, Mr. Buckee also had stops in Norway and Alaska before being appointed in 1991 as president and CEO of BP Canada, which was later renamed Talisman after parent BP sold off its Canadian interest. Talisman merged with the Seaman brothers' Bow Valley Energy in 1994 in a $1.8-billion deal that would catapult Mr. Buckee on to the A list of executives heading Canadian oil and gas producers. As one of the largest Canadian-based producers domestically and abroad today, Talisman is a favourite pick among industry analysts, even though the company is deep into the quagmire of Sudan. Mr. Buckee is no absent-minded professor, despite his extensive academic background. He knows precisely what Talisman needs to do to grow, and he's willing to take the heat for it, although the Sudanese investment has turned into a much bigger public relations fiasco than he ever imagined. Amid pressure from human rights groups to withdraw from Sudan, he has countered with what he calls a framework to measure Talisman's social performance in the African nation. He won't win over his critics, but by pointing to examples of meeting an international code of ethics, he will at least soothe the nerves of some shareholders who have stuck by Talisman through thick and thin. Mr. Buckee believes that an investment boycott would do more harm than good for a country already poor and unstable. On the question of supporting Kyoto, he sees fundamental flaws in the basic science that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are to blame for excessive global warming. An unapologetic Mr. Buckee means an unapologetic Talisman. If that translates into an end to the so-called Sudan discount on Talisman shares and the stock jumps by one-third next year to what some say is its true value of almost $80, then the astrophysicist from England is likely to continue his often unconventional and sometimes unpopular ways. bjang@globeandmail.ca