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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Oil & Gas Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9697)	3/9/2003 8:40:16 PM
From: LARRY LARSON	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24925

Canadian Press and Associated Press POSTED AT 6:04 PM EST Sunday, Mar. 9, 2003 Khartoum — Canada's Talisman Energy Inc. finally completed a deal Sunday to sell its controversial oil interests in Sudan for about $1.2-billion to a subsidiary of India's national oil company. The Indian company, ONGC Videsh Ltd., is known to have operations in Russia, Iran and Libya, with turnover of $3-billion. "We say welcome to the Indian company," Sudanese Energy Minister Awad al-Jaz told reporters. "This deal was done with the consent of all and everybody is happy." But the sale, which was originally announced last October, dragged on more than two months after Talisman's original closing date of the end of the year. The 25 per cent stake in the Greater Nile Oil production and pipeline project had turned into a political headache for Calgary-based Talisman, and president Jim Buckee admitted that shareholders and management alike were tired of the attention focused on its Sudan oil fields for four years. Critics including human rights groups and churches said revenues from the Sudan project helped finance the country's civil war, which began in 1983 and has left more than two million people dead through fighting and famine. But the company always maintained that its presence promoted peace and development in the African country. "It has been very difficult for us to operate [in Sudan]," Mr. Buckee said Sunday. "In the event of signing a peace agreement, we will come back to Sudan." Mr. Al-Jaz expressed similar hopes. "The Canadian [company] was an honest and sincere partner. Let us hope that the reasons that led them to pull out would soon disappear and they will come back without any pressure to invest in Sudan," he said. Delays over completion of the sale were believed to centre on the other co-owners of the Sudan property, including the state-owned oil companies of China and Malaysia and their right of first refusal. Energy analysts had speculated that Talisman's stock — which had only risen about 6 per cent since the Sudan sale was announced — was being discounted because many were beginning to believe the sale would not go through at all. But now that it has, it will free Talisman up to focus on building its core areas which include natural gas in Canada and oil development in the North Sea. Mr. Buckee told analysts last week that it will take proceeds from the sale as well as extra cash flow currently coming from sky-high oil and gas prices to buy complimentary assets that he expects will come up for sale this year. Talisman is one of Canada's most international energy producers, even after its departure from Sudan. The company is also expecting production from new projects in Malaysia, Vietnam and Algeria to replace the oil lost from selling the prolific Sudan holding. It also spent more than $300-million buying back shares last year in an attempt to boost their value, and expects to continue that strategy this year.