Rosneft and Petrovietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation in upstream and downstream oil and gas operations in Russia, Vietnam, and third countries.

Statoil AS and Total SA have agreed to swap 10% interests in two petroleum licenses in the Barents Sea offshore Norway.

San Leon Energy PLC agreed to buy Talisman Energy Inc.’s share of a shale gas joint venture in Poland. Talisman is the second international major oil company to withdraw from Poland, following a decision last year by ExxonMobil Corp. to exit Poland after early results failed to produce commercial wells.

MarkWest Energy Partners LP, Denver, has bought midstream assets in the Anadarko basin from a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp. for $245 million.

Inpex Corp., through a subsidiary, has agreed to acquire a 30% participating interest in Area 15 offshore Uruguay from a subsidiary of Tullow Oil PLC (see map, OGJ, May 7, 2012, p. 60).

Petronas Brasil E&P Ltda. has agreed to buy interests in two blocks in Brazil’s Campos basin from OGX Petroleo e Gas SA for $850 million.

Apache Corp. will sell properties worth $4 billion by the end of 2013 in what G. Steven Farris, chairman and chief executive officer, described as a program to “divest noncore assets while retaining those that drive long-term growth and generate cash from operations.”

HRT Oil & Gas Ltd., Rio de Janeiro, will acquire BP PLC’s 60% interest in Polvo oil field in shallow water in the southern Campos basin offshore Brazil for $135 million cash.

EQT Corp. agreed to buy 99,000 net acres in southwestern Pennsylvania and 10 horizontal Marcellus wells in Washington County, Pa., from Chesapeake Energy Corp. and partners.

A private independent oil and gas company with interests in Alabama will purchase the Alabama coalbed methane properties of GeoMet Inc., Houston, for $63.2 million. The buyer’s name has yet to be released.

Advances in deepwater technology require financial commitment by oil companies and a willingness to form partnerships with vendors and regulators, panelists discussing the DeepStar research and development collaboration told an opening session of the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.