French major Total SA (NYSE: TOT, France: FP) via subsidiary Total E&P USA Inc. has closed its acquisition of a 25% position in the Barnett shale in Texas from Chesapeake Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: CHK) for $2.25 billion. The assets include approximately 270,000 net acres in the core and tier 1 areas of the Barnett, of which 90% is in the core area. Current total net production is approximately 700 million cu. ft. equivalent per day and proved reserves are approximately 3 trillion cu. ft. equivalent.

Statoil USA E&P, a subsidiary of Statoil ASA, Stavanger, Norway, (NYSE: STO) plans to acquire a 25% working interest in 50 federal leases in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska from ConocoPhillips, Houston, (NYSE: COP) for an undisclosed price. In addition to financial consideration from Statoil, ConocoPhillips will also acquire a 50% working interest in 16 Statoil-operated Gulf of Mexico leases and acquire all of Statoil’s 25% working interest in five additional Gulf of Mexico leases operated by ConocoPhillips. All of the Gulf blocks are in the Lower Tertiary play.

Danish E&P Maersk Oil has been bumped from its plans to acquire interests in three Lower Tertiary development projects in the Gulf of Mexico from Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, (NYSE: DVN) for $1.3 billion in cash, as working-interest partners in two of the three projects have exercised preferential rights. The assets were to include Devon’s 50% working interest in the Cascade project and its 25% working interest in the Jack and St. Malo projects in deepwater Walker Ridge offshore Louisiana.

National Oilwell Varco LP, Houston, (NYSE: NOV) has acquired Ambar Lone Star Fluid Services LLC, a subsidiary of Patterson-UTI Energy Inc., Houston, (Nasdaq: PTEN) for approximately $48 million. The transaction, which includes all of Ambar’s assets other than billed accounts receivable, marks Patterson-UTI’s exit from the drilling and completion fluid services industry.

Triangle Petroleum Corp., Calgary, (Toronto Venture: TPE; OTCBB: TPLM) has acquired 4,000 net acres in Williams and McKenzie counties, North Dakota, from an unnamed seller. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.The properties represent Triangle’s first acquisition in the Bakken shale play, which the company has established as its core area of operations in the U.S. Triangle and privately held, Wichita, Kan.-based Slawson Exploration Co. Inc. have formed a joint venture to acquire and develop properties from the Middle Bakken and Three Forks formations of the Williston Basin. Triangle, founded in 2006, also owns approximately 475,000 gross acres (413,000 net acres) in the Windsor Block of Nova Scotia.

Crimson Exploration Inc., Houston, (NasdaqGM: CXPO) has sold operated and nonoperated working interests in southwestern Louisiana to an undisclosed private seller for $7.8 million, representing an exit from the region. The assets involve various producing wells, related production equipment and associated acreage in Allen, Cameron, Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis parishes. Production during third-quarter 2009 was approximately 2.9 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent per day. The proved reserves represented approximately 7% of Crimson’s proved reserves as of the end of third-quarter 2009.

Crimson holds an average 51% working interest in 9,778 gross developed acres (4,250 net) and 1,838 gross undeveloped acres (1,412 net) in Fenton, Lacassine and Grand Lake fields in southwestern Louisiana. Production was from 21 gross wells (12 net) targeting the Hackberry, Miocene and Oligocene formations. Proved reserves as of year-end 2008 were 10.4 billion cu. ft. equivalent (76% gas and gas liquids).

The agreement provides for up to an additional $2.4 million for properties in which consents are pending.

“The sale of these assets represents a strategic exit from all operations in South Louisiana and removes approximately $5.2 million of our total recorded asset retirement obligation at Sept. 30, 2009,” the company said in a statement.

Proceeds were used to repay debt. Crimson holds interests in South Texas, East Texas and the Upper Gulf Coast.

Energy Ventures III LP, Stavanger, Norway, reports that NovaDrill, its Provo, Utah-based portfolio company, has been sold to an unnamed buyer. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Energy Ventures invested $19 million in NovaDrill, a downhole-drilling technology company formed by Novatek International Inc. in August 2008.

The sale marks Energy Venture’s second successful exit in the last six months and eighth in seven years.

Modena Resources Ltd., Sydney, (Australia: MDA) has acquired privately held Blackgate Resources LLC, a company with assets in Texas, for $24 million in cash and stock.

Blackgate’s primary asset is a priority secured and unsecured debt position with Houston-based BNP Petroleum Corp., which is engaged in Chapter 11 proceedings. Modena says it will attempt to secure BNPs assets, in South Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, after the acquisition closes.

Blackgate recently acquired shallow gas interests in the Sandy, Slazenger and Wagner prospects in Jackson County, Texas, and the Walkoviak No. 1 well in Grimes County, Texas, from Australian investment firm Arturus Capital Ltd. for $7.63 million.

According to Arturus, which has a pre-transaction stake in Modena of 10.3%, Modena will issue 193.7 million shares to satisfy Blackgate’s financial obligation. Modena also issued an additional 5.86 million shares to Arturus in early January 2010 to satisfy unpaid interest from convertible notes and a loan facility the company holds.

Pro forma the transactions, Arturus, which recently formed Houston-based Arturus Energy to lead its investment activities in the U.S. oil and gas sector, will have increased its holdings in Modena to approximately 32%.

Additional news

Enbridge Energy Partners LP, Houston, (NYSE: EEP) plans to expand its East Texas gas-gathering system by constructing three lateral pipelines into Haynesville producing areas in East Texas together with an additional large- diameter lateral from Shelby County to Carthage, Texas.

The Haynesville expansion is expected to increase the partnership’s take-away capacity from Shelby, Nacogdoches and San Augustine counties to 900 million cu. ft. per day. The project is estimated to cost $141.8 million and will include approximately 50 miles of 16- to 24-inch-diameter pipe.