CALGARY – Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM) is planning a further $2.3 billion of dispositions or joint ventures over the next 12 to 18 months, including marketing some of its assets in western Canada.
The Calgary-based oil and gas company has reduced its capital budget to $3 billion this year, a 25 per cent reduction from 2012.
Talisman says the reduced capital budget is mostly as a result of the sale of most of its North Sea operations last year to Chinese oil giant Sinopec for $1.5 billion.
Its 2013 outlook calls for between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in North American deals and about the same amount internationally within 18 months.
Among the assets it seeks to market are its North Duvernay shale assets and parts of its Montney holdings, both in western Canada.
Most of this year’s spending to will be focused on its two remaining core regions, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific, with an emphasis on shifting production from low-margin natural gas to more profitable liquids.
Talisman recently laid of 90 employees at its Calgary head office in an effort to streamline its Canadian operations amid low North American natural gas prices. However, it still has 1,500 employees in Canada including about 1,200 in Calgary.