Petrolympic Ltd., Toronto, plans to form a joint venture with Energex Petroleum Inc., Windsor, Ont.,  to acquire 50% indirect working interest in Energex’s Michigan pinnacle reef properties. Energex is working towards a public listing in Toronto.

Bakken Hunter LLC, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., closed a $312 million acquisition of Baytex Energy Corp.’s nonoperated interests in North Dakota.

Venari Resources LLC, Dallas, is beginning work as a deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration company with private financing of as much as $1.125 billion.

MDU Resources Group Inc., through its Bitter Creek Pipelines LLC subsidiary, plans to pay $66 million for a 50% interest in Whiting Oil & Gas Corp.’s Bakken midstream assets near Belfield, ND.

LINN Energy LLC, Houston, will fund $400 million of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s future development costs in giant Salt Creek oil field in Wyoming in exchange for being assigned a 23% interest in the carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery project.

Atlas Resources Partners LP, Philadelphia, will acquire 250 bcf equivalent of proved reserves in the Barnett shale in the Fort Worth basin from Titan Operating LLC, private Fort Worth independent, for $184 million in ARP units.

Taipan Resources Inc., Vancouver, BC, entered into a preliminary agreement to merge with Lion Petroleum Corp., which has interests in 9.7 million exploratory acres onshore Kenya. Closing is subject to reaching a definitive agreement.

Statoil is transferring operatorship of Vilje oil field offshore Norway to Marathon Oil Norge, effective Sept. 1 if approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

CBM Asia Development Corp., Vancouver, BC, and Continental Energy Corp., Jakarta, formed a joint study and bid group to investigate coalbed methane opportunities in Indonesia.

Unconventional oil and gas resources topped a list of areas that the governments of Canada and Poland have identified as having “potential for further dialog and cooperation.”

Oklahoma City independent Chesapeake Energy Corp. is confident it will complete assets sales to help resolve financial concerns, its chief executive officer told analysts and investors during a conference call in which he also outlined a new $3 billion loan.