Thomson Financial News
Talisman says no plans to leave Peru over protests
10.22.08, 3:06 PM ET

LIMA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Talisman Energy, Canada's No. 3 independent oil explorer, said on Wednesday it had no plans to pull out of Peru, after local media reports said community leaders had given the company an ultimatum to leave.

The Calgary-based group, which is looking for oil in Peru, has two lots in the northern Amazon jungle. Several indigenous groups live in the area, including the Achuar people, whose leader has said protesters will throw the company out if it does not stop work by Nov. 15.

'We are not planning on leaving Peru any time soon,' David Mann, a Talisman official, said.

'My understanding is we have all the agreements and consents we require from communities in the areas where we're operating. There may be other groups that are outside our area of operation who are asking for something different.'

Talisman's chief executive met with a small delegation of Achuar leaders in April and said the company would not operate without their consent.

Protesters say oil work harms the environment and sows seeds of conflict.

'We, as indigenous people, reject the Canadian company Talisman. We do not want them working in our territory. We want the Peruvian state to respect us, and the armed forces to stop helping the company,' Cesar Zuniga, president of the Achuar indigenous group FENAP, said on local radio.

Talisman, which operates in some 20 countries, was criticized by human rights groups for its activities in Sudan in the late 1990s and earlier this decade. Conflict over oil exacerbated Sudan's civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2005.

(Reporting by Dana Ford; Editing by Walter Bagley) Keywords: PERU TALISMAN/

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