• Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Irving, Texas, (NYSE:PXD) has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of Carmeuse Holding SA (Luxemburg) to acquire its U.S. industrial sands business, Carmeuse Industrial Sands, for approximately $297 million. The acquisition will be funded from available cash and is expected to close late in the first quarter or early in second-quarter 2012.

CIS’ sand mine in Brady, Texas, has more than 30 years of proven brown sand reserve life and is the industry’s largest resource base for brown sand in the U.S. The Brady mine currently has sales capacity of approximately 1 million tons annually.

Scott Sheffield, Pioneer’s chairman and chief executive, said this was an opportunity to secure high-quality, logistically advantaged brown sand supply to support three of Pioneer’s four core Texas growth assets—the Spraberry vertical, horizontal Wolfcamp shale and Barnett shale Combo plays. The purchase was made at below-market prices, and Sheffield expects to reduce annual capital spending by $65 million to $70 million based on its estimated sand requirements and current market prices.

The company’s management team has agreed to join Pioneer. CIS’ other assets include two outlets (Bakersfield, Calif., Colorado Springs, Colo.) for other grades of sand produced in Brady; two sand mines in Ohio (Glass Rock and Millwood), which produce oilfield and industrial sands; one sand mine in California (Orange County), which produces construction and recreational sand; and an oilfield cement material processing plant in Riverside, Calif.

• Forest Oil Corp., Denver, (NYSE: FST) announced it has assembled an acreage position of 68,500 gross acres (63,000 net) prospective for the Wolf-bone oil play in Pecos and Reeves counties, Texas. The Wolfbone acreage increases Forest’s total Permian Basin acreage position, inclusive of Forest’s Wolfcamp shale acreage position in Crockett County, Texas, of 57,500 gross acres (51,500 net), to 126,000 gross acres (114,500 net).

Total consideration paid for the acreage, acquired through a series of transactions, included $66 million in cash and approximately 2.7 million shares of Forest Oil’s common stock.

The acreage is concentrated in large, contiguous positions in both the Delaware and Midland basins. The company plans to further test the Wolfcamp shale and begin testing the Wolfbone in the first half of 2012, after which it will assess the pace of drilling rig activity in each of the plays.

• Kosmos Energy Ltd., Dallas, (NYSE: KOS) plans to acquire the participating interest of Ghana-based Sabre Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd. in the deepwater Tano block offshore Ghana for $365 million. The purchase includes an additional $45 million contingent upon achieving certain performance milestones.

Pro forma, Kosmos’ interest in the deepwater Tano block will increase from 18% to 22.05%. Kosmos’ interest in Jubilee Field will increase from 24.1% to 25.8%.

• MDU Resources Group Inc., Bismarck, N.D., (NYSE: MDU) has acquired an additional 27,000 acres of leaseholds in Richland County, Montana. Its subsidiary, Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., now holds approximately 57,000 net leasehold acres in Richland County, all acquired in the past year. This acreage position is a contiguous block immediately adjacent to the prolific Elm Coulee Field. The company has spudded its first of two appraisal wells. Depending upon results, a continuous drilling program utilizing one to two rigs is planned.

“We now have the acreage, drilling rigs and services as well as the organizational capability and experience to sustainably grow our Bakken production,” says Kent Wells, president and chief executive of Fidelity. With the latest acreage acquisition, Fidelity holds a total of approximately 124,000 net leasehold acres in the Bakken area with plans to invest approximately $160 million in the region this year.

• Linn Energy LLC, Houston, (Nasdaq: LINE) plans to acquire properties in East Texas from an undisclosed seller for $175 million.

The assets include approximately 430 wells on approximately 19,800 contiguous net acres. There are multiple identified upside recompletion and infill-drilling opportunities on the acreage.

Production is approximately 24 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent per day (97% gas). Proved reserves are 136 billion cu. ft. equivalent (100% proved developed producing).

Linn will fund the deal with proceeds from borrowings under its revolving credit facility.

Linn chairman, president and chief executive Mark E. Ellis says, “This mature long-life asset has a low decline rate of less than 10% and is expected to provide a steady stream of cash flow. It also offers an extensive future drilling inventory on a concentrated acreage position that is held by production.”

Ellis adds the company has already entered approximately $1.4 billion of acquisitions in the first quarter, following its $1.2-billion deal with BP Plc to acquire Hugoton Basin properties in Kansas.

• Memorial Production Partners LP, Houston, (Nasdaq: MEMP), an MLP focused on acquiring mature assets in South and East Texas, plans to acquire certain oil and natural gas producing properties in East Texas from its sponsor Memorial Resource Development LLC, for $18.3 million.

The properties are primarily in Willow Springs Field in Gregg County and in Upshur, Rusk, Panola, Smith and Leon counties in East Texas. The assets include 111 gross (29 net) producing wells, of which 84% will continue to be operated by Tanos Energy Holdings LLC, an operating subsidiary of Memorial Resource Development.

Net production is 2.3 million cu. ft. of gas equivalent per day (82% gas). Net proved reserves are approximately 20 billion cu. ft. equivalent (69% proved developed).

• Privately held Wapiti Energy LLC, Houston, plans to acquire an undivided interest in producing Uinta Basin oil and gas assets in Utah and enter an agreement to develop additional reserves with Gasco Energy Inc., Denver, (NYSE Amex: GSX) for a total enterprise value of $35.75 million.

Wapiti will pay some $20.7 million in cash, of which some $5.7 million is allocated to producing assets and $15 million to a drilling carry. Wapiti will pay an additional $15 million toward the carry over the next two years.

The assets include an undivided 50% working interest in 117,000 gross acres (84,000 net) in Uintah, Duchesne and Carbon counties, Utah, as well as 135 producing vertical wells. Some 93% is held by production.

Production is from the Wasatch, Mesaverde and Mancos gas formations, with prospective areas in the Black-hawk and Dakota. About 11,000 net acres are prospective for the Green River oil play, where two vertical wells have been drilled.

Proved reserves at year-end 2010 were 42.5 Bcf. Upside includes an estimated 5,000 drilling locations.