The big Canadian oil producer finished the seismic work for its PNG drilling campaign by the end of June.

"The Stanley-2 and Stanley-4 appraisal wells and the Ubuntu-1 and Awapa-1 exploration wells have been drilled, and the Siphon-1 exploration well was spudded at the end of June," Talisman said in its recent quarterly report.

"The Awapa well was dry, however this was a commitment well which was not part of the gas aggregation strategy and we remain confident in our objective of successfully aggregating 2 to 4 trillion cubic feet."

Explorer New Guinea Energy has farmed in Talisman into its PPL 226 and 269 tenements, with Talisman operating the underway 50:50 owned Siphon-1 well in PPL 269 which was at a depth of 1170 metres on Monday.

Talisman is also working with Horizon Oil to develop opportunities to export condensate from the Stanley-2 and Stanley-4 wells in PRL 4 and to commercialise the Eval and Ketu discoveries in PRL21.

The Awapa-1 well in PNG's Western Province was operated by South African gas-to-liquids specialist Sasol (51%).

Talisman's dry hole costs reached $36 million in the June quarter, which includes the expenses borne by Awapa-1.

Disclaimer: Aspermont Publishing owns shares in New Guinea Energy.