Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, has completed its $6 billion purchase of 82,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford play from Woodlands, Tex.-based GeoSouthern Energy more than 3 months after the agreement was reported.

The US drilling rig count gave up 2 units to settle at 1,769 rigs working during the week ended Feb. 28, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

The New York Mercantile Exchange April crude contract declined 19¢ on Feb. 27, closing at $102.40/bbl. The May contract dropped 15¢ to settle at $101.62/bbl.

VAALCO Energy, Houston, reported its exploration well in the Dimba prospect, 7 miles northeast of the Etame field offshore Gabon, has been drilled to a total depth of 3,040 m and estimated recoverable reserves have been determined to be uneconomic.

Warrego Energy Ltd., Perth, has signed a $40 million (Aus.) farmout agreement with Dutch exploration and production specialists Dyas BV and Mazarine Energy BV to bring technical expertise to development of the West Erregulla tight gas field in the onshore North Perth basin in Western Australia.

Noble Corp. reported that its Noble Paul Wolff dynamically positioned semisubmersible rig offshore Brazil encountered ballast-control problems early Feb. 28. All workers are safe, the well secured, and no spill occurred, the company said.

Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Mumbai, let a contract to Petron Engineering Construction Ltd. for services related to an integrated expansion and upgrade of its Kochi refinery at Ambalmugal in the Indian state of Kerala.

India is seeking to accelerate exploration and production operations with a new policy on geoscientific data generation.

The deployment of miniature satellites from the International Space Station continued Feb. 27, while the onboard Expedition 38 crew prepared for the arrival of a U.S. commercial cargo craft and the departure of three crew members. Two sets of Nanoracks CubeSats were deployed late Wednesday and early Thursday from a deployer mechanism on the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform attached to the Kibo robotic arm, leaving just two more launches to go of the 33 CubeSats that were delivered to the station in January by Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo ship.