A P Moller-Maersk Group, the Danish business with interests in container services, energy and shipping,  is acquiring Devon Energy Corporation's interests in the Cascade, Jack and St. Malo oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico for $1.3 billion.

The projects are in the deepwater Walker Ridge federal lease area offshore of Louisiana and the Copenhagen-based Maersk will obtain a 50 per cent participating interest in the Cascade field and a 25 per cent participating interest in each of the Jack and St. Malo fields.

Maersk, ranked 106 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2009 said that the transaction is subject to a waiver of the preferential purchase rights held by the other partners in the fields as well as additional closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Ahead of on-stream production, Maersk Oil's estimated additional investment is expected to be in the range of $1.3 - 1.8 billion, going up to around $4 billion over time, and its estimated share of recoverable resources from the three fields combined is more than 200 million barrels.

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras-operated Cascade field is expected to commence production in 2010, while the Chevron operated Jack and St. Malo fields are expected to commence production in 2014.

"Maersk Oil is an important part of our portfolio, and we have said we wanted to invest in our oil business. For that reason, we have been looking and continue to look for investment opportunities in the areas where we are already active with production or exploration,'' said Nils Andersen, CEO of Mærsk.

"We are very pleased with this acquisition, which will enable us to establish material production within a short timeframe. In addition, we believe that the Gulf of Mexico has a lot of potential, which is why we are expanding our presence in the area," said Jakob Thomasen, CEO of Maersk Oil.

Apart from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico as well as offshore Brazil, Maersk Oil is engaged as operator in deepwater activities offshore Angola, where the Chissonga discovery was made earlier this year.

The Oklahoma-based Devon Energy said that it expects to receive $1.1 billion from the deal after-tax deductions proceeds of $1.1 billion from the deal, which will be used to pay the company's debt and for investments in its onshore assets.

Devon has no current production or proved reserves in these projects. The sale of these oil fields reduces Devon's 2010 capital budget for the Gulf of Mexico by approximately $400 million.

Devon, a Fortune 500 company had announced plans last month to divest its Gulf of Mexico and international assets and the company expects to net $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion from the planned divestitures including the present transaction.

"This is an important first step in executing our plan to divest all of our Gulf of Mexico and international assets and to reposition Devon as a purely North American onshore company," said John Richels, Devon's president.