Talisman Malaysia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Talisman Energy, has commenced oil production from the Northern Fields development on schedule. The development is located in the PM-3 commercial arrangement area offshore Malaysia and Vietnam.

The oil company claimed that production is expected to reach 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 50,000boe/d by early 2010 with the commissioning of dry gas facilities mid-year.

Talisman Malaysia operates Block PM-3 commercial arrangement area and, together with its affiliate Talisman Malaysia (PM3) holds a 41.44% interest. Petronas Carigali holds a 46.06% interest and PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation holds a 12.5% interest, said the company.

The project is comprised of over 70 reservoirs, 50 wells, three wellhead riser platforms, a central processing platform, a floating storage and offloading tanker and over 100 kilometres of subsea pipelines.

John Manzoni, president and CEO of Talisman Energy, said: Southeast Asia continues to be a key area of opportunity and growth for Talisman. We have doubled our production in Asia over the past five years and are positioned to grow at 10% annually over the next few years.