Talisman profit up threefold

Talisman profit up threefold

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters): Talisman Energy Inc. pumped out a nearly threefold jump in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, as Canada's third-largest oil and gas explorer and producer reaped rewards from strong prices and rising production.

Talisman, known for operations in Canada, the North Sea, Sudan and Indonesia, also joined a long list of international oil companies in reporting record annual results, and predicted an even stronger showing this year.

Despite a spending budget of C$1.7 billion ($1.1 billion), plans for asset acquisitions and a continued stock buyback, excess cash flow will likely lead Talisman to start paying dividends, chief executive Jim Buckee said.

Quarterly profit hit C$268.4 million, or C$1.90 a share, up from year-earlier C$92.2 million, or 62 Canadian cents a share. Cash flow, a key measure of an oil firm's ability to fund its projects, jumped 64 percent to C$689 million, or C$4.98 a share, from C$419 million, or C$3 a share.

For all of 2000, profits were C$906 million, or C$6.32 a share, up more than five times from the C$177 million, or C$1.30 a share, it reported for 1999. Annual cash flow more than doubled to C$2.4 billion, or C$17.25 a share, from year-earlier C$1.1 billion or C$8.85 a share.

In 2000, production averaged 409,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 32 percent from 1999. Most of the jump was thanks to higher oil output in the North Sea, where it acquired a number of assets last year. The company forecast 2001 output at 475,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

The company projected oil production to grow by 10-15 percent this year, with four oil fields coming on stream in the North Sea and a boost in processing capacity in Sudan. Natural gas output was expected to be up 5 percent in Canada.