The Houston-based independent energy company Apache has announced it will buy its rival Mariner Energy for $2.7 billionÔÇöits second acquisition in the space of a week.  The deal is in line with ApacheÔÇÖs strategy of trying to extend into deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico. Houston, Texas-based Mariner's deepwater portfolio includes nearly 100 blocks, seven discoveries in developmentÔÇöincluding interests in Lucius and HeidelbergÔÇöand more than 50 prospects.

Dana Petroleum has announced it has made a ÔÇ£significantÔÇØ gas discovery at a well in the UK North Sea.

UK oil major BP will signal at its AGM today that it will proceed with plans to invest in CanadaÔÇÖs oil sands, according to a report in UK newspaper the Financial Times.

BP will proceed with its plans to invest in CanadaÔÇÖs oil sands, the company will signal at its AGM today, according to a report in the Financial Times.

The Houston-based oil major ConocoPhillips is planning to team up with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co. to bid for oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea off Turkmenistan, according to reports.  Mubadala and Conoco, the third-biggest oil producer in the US, have already been working together in partnership with KazakhstanÔÇÖs KazMunaiGaz on exploration in the Kazakh section of the Caspian Sea.

The US oil major ConocoPhillips is planning to team up with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co. to bid for oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea off Turkmenistan, according to reports.

ConocoPhillips, the third biggest US oil company, has agreed to sell its 9.03 percent stake in Canadian oil sands project Syncrude to ChinaÔÇÖs Sinopec for $4.65 billion.

Google has announced its first ever UK acquisition, buying the Oxford-based mobile visual search start-up Plink.

Two US power companies, Mirant and RRI Energy, have agreed to a merger that will create one of the largest independent power producers in the US.  The two companies will combine to form GenOn Energy, a power producer with 24,700 megawatts of electric generating capacity and a market value of about $3.1 billion.

The German chemicals group BASF is said to be preparing a bid for Cognis, the German speciality chemicals maker currently owned by private equity firms.