Chesapeake closed its $2.25 billion Barnett Shale joint venture transaction with Total E&P USA, Inc., whereby Total acquired a 25% interest in Chesapeake's upstream Barnett Shale assets. The assets in the joint venture include approximately 270,000 net acres of leasehold in the Core and Tier 1 areas of the Barnett, approximately 700 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day of current net production and approximately 3.0 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (tcfe) of proved reserves (0.75 tcfe net to Total). In addition, Chesapeake believes that this leasehold position will support the drilling of approximately 3,100 additional net locations (775 net to Total) with approximately 6.3 tcfe of unrisked unproved reserves (1.6 tcfe net to Total).

The U.S. federal government will this week consider the process by which energy companies conduct surveys along the Atlantic Coast in what could potentially be an initial step toward offshore oil and gas leasing in Atlantic waters. According to a Houston Chronicle report, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a Platts energy forum that the Interior Department will send a timeline to Congress for an environmental review determining whether or not seismic studies would be allowed along the East Coast.

Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela's Minister of Energy and Petroleum and President of PDVSA, and Paolo Scaroni, Eni's CEO, have signed in the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías and Vincenzo Scotti, Undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an agreement for the development of Junin 5.

CNOOC Ltd.’s parent China National Offshore Oil Corp. signed a production-sharing contract with BG International Ltd. (BG Group) for Block 63/16 in the Qiong Dong Nan basin in the western South China Sea.

Brazil’s state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has entered into two new agreements aimed at further enhancing its presence in the fuel-ethanol market.