Talisman Energy had said it would be selling off a part of its shareholdings in some of its natural gas assets in British Columbia's Motney Field. The sale would be made to Malaysia-controlled Progress Energy Canada for CAD1.5 billion or USD1.44 billion in line with global operations restructuring.

Carl Icahn has a 6% shareholding in Talisman. The oil firm has been undertaking programs to cut costs and increase its share prices.

The oil producer based out of Canada would be selling 127,000 acres or nearly three fourths of its holdings in Farrell Creek and Cypress locations in British Columbia. These assets produce 11,000 barrells of oil product per day as of October 1. This production would increase by the fourth quarter of the year. This was confirmed by one of the units of Malaysia's oil firm Petronas, Progress Energy.

Last year, Petronas acquired Progress Energy Resources for CAD5 billion in 2012 to gain access to the northeastern British Columbia shale fields.