Canadian oil and gas company buys oil and gas company Paladin Resources

Canadian oil and gas company Talisman Energy Inc. said Thursday it is buying Britain's Paladin Resources PLC, giving it new North Sea exploration and production assets. Talisman will also receive production in Australia, Indonesia and Tunisia, and exploration acreage in Gabon and Romania as part of the 1.2 million pound (US$2.2 million; Ђ1.8 million) deal.

Paladin recently reported production of about 46,000 barrels of oil per day for the first half of 2005, and Talisman said the total assets acquired are equivalent to about 190 million barrels of oil. Talisman's North Sea production stood at around 145,000 barrels of oil per day for the first half of 2005, the AP reports.

Talisman said it would be spending more than 1 billion Canadian dollars (US$852 million; Ђ712 million; 482 million pounds) on the new acreage over the next three years. A.M.