New Talisman Energy (TLM +1.7%) CEO Hal Kvisle says he plans to focus more on boosting cash flow...

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Uncle Pie Comments (1576)
 
I suspect that the Chinese, and other foreign oil companies, are waiting to see if Canada will approve the sale of Nexen to CNOOC. If the sale goes through, I wouldn't be surprised to see a big rush to buy up Canadian shale and oil sands properties by Asian and European energy groups.

Long various energy companies, including TLM.
10 Sep 2012, 06:41 PM Reply Like

Captain America Comments (16)
 
The bulk of Nexen's assets and operations are overseas. Nexen is a very, very small player in oil sands compared to other larger Canadian operators, which is why I find it funny the Canadian government is making a big deal about the takeover. Nexen does have a large NG position in Canada, but needs to find a market for this gas through LNG export to Asia.

Unfortunately, the Chinese won't target TLM since some of its best assets are located in SE Asia. Those SE Asia governments won't let the Chinese touch their energy resources. TLM has no oil sands assets and most of their assets are outside Canada. Nexen is very much like TLM in terms of size and type of assets (excluding the oil sands), but I thought Nexen was much more poorly managed than TLM.

TLM has been a big disappoint for a number of years. I thought Manzoni did a good job trying to reposition the company and selling off non-core assets, but did make big mistakes --- i.e. the acquisition in Columbia, which has been a big disappointment. You can't fault him for the low natural gas prices, but I will fault him for recently putting those low NG hedges in place when NG prices were rock bottom.

It will be interesting to see what is going to happen with TLM going forward.
10 Sep 2012, 08:02 PM Reply Like