Talisman Energy, the Canadian oil and gas operator which has significant interests in the UK North Sea and Norway, said yesterday that 2008 was a year of change for the company.
Chief executive John Manzoni said: “We set the company in a new strategic direction and realigned major parts of the organisation in support of the new strategy. We’ve also successfully navigated a very dynamic economic environment, posting record financial results despite the collapse in oil and natural gas prices in the fourth quarter.”
The company reported a record £1.934billion in net income for 2008, a 69% increase on 2007 despite writedowns associated with year-end pricing and reserves.
Revenue for the year was £6.5billion, up from £4.89billion the year before.
Talisman said its production from continuing operations averaged 419,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2008, a 3% year-on-year increase.
Mr Manzoni said: “We have made a lot of progress towards implementing the strategy in a short period of time. Talisman is in a strong financial position and can react quickly in this volatile environment.”
Also reporting yesterday was Canadian Natural Resources, another operator with interests in the North Sea, which said it had deferred £442million of planned 2009 capital spending because of weak commodity prices.
CNR said that at present all but the very best projects were marginal, and that moving through the current cycle it expected to achieve better returns on acquisitions than by developing its portfolio of assets. It posted net earnings of £2.75billion for 2008 compared with £1.44billion the year before. Revenue for the year was £8.93billion, up from £6.93billion 12 months earlier.
CNR’s production for the year was 564,845boepd, down from 609,206boepd the previous year.