Talisman/San Leon to Drill First Well in August
Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian oil and gas explorer, plans in August to start drilling its first well to evaluate potential shale deposits in northern Poland, according to the company’s manager for the country.
Talisman is partnered with San Leon Energy plc. (Read details of the Talisman/San Leon partnership HERE)
“We’re planning to finalize negotiations on the drilling contract in mid-February, and drill one well on each of our three licenses,” Tomasz Maj said in an e-mail. “Drilling on the first well would start Aug. 1 and the last one would be completed around the end of January 2012.”
Poland’s reserves of shale and tight gas may be as much as 3 trillion cubic meters, according to estimates by geologists and energy consultants, potentially making the country a net exporter of gas and reducing Europe’s dependence on Russia.
Shale development, where rock formations are horizontally drilled and fractured using water and other liquids under high pressure, is driving a surge in U.S. gas output and in Poland drew interest from companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.
According to Maj, the company would be interested in trading data from exploratory drillings with owners of licenses in the same area.
ConocoPhillips, the third-biggest U.S. energy company, and its eastern European partner Lane Energy Poland own neighbouring licences as well as Saponis Investments Sp. Z.o.o. and Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, Poland’s dominant natural gas distributor known as PGNiG.
‘Trading Data’
“We are interested in trading data with Lane Energy and Saponis, as well as the PGNiG, which own neighbouring licenses,” he said.
Lane Energy last year drilled two vertical wells at its license in northern Poland and plans to drill a horizontal well in the same area in the second quarter of 2011, Kamlesh Parmar, Country Manager at Lane Energy Poland, said Dec. 2.
Saponis announced that it has started drilling its first shale gas exploration well within the Slawno concession area. (Read About Saponis HERE)
The company said in a regulatory statement that its well is located less than 60 kilometers (37 miles) from one of the wells drilled by ConocoPhillips and Lane Energy.
Read More About Talisman HERE
Source: Bloomberg