• Vermilion Energy Trust, Calgary, (Toronto: VET.UN) plans to buy assets in The Netherlands for C$80.5 million producing 5,900 BOE per day and containing 14.3 million BOE of proved reserves and 17.4 million of proved-plus-probable reserves. Vermilion subsidiary Vermilion Oil & Gas Netherlands BV would take ownership of the assets. The deal may close in May. The acquisition includes seven production licenses with working interests ranging from 42% to 93%, all of which will be operated by Vermilion Netherlands; three state-of-the-art processing facilities with an extensive gas-gathering system; and a shallow, near-shore production platform. • Marathon Oil Corp., Houston, (NYSE: MRO) has offered to combine its Russian Khanty Maniysk Oil Corp. with the Severnaya Neft subsidiary of Rosneft. • Talisman Energy Inc., Calgary, (NYSE: TLM) subsidiary Talisman Energy Norge AS has acquired a 35% interest in licenses PL143BS and PL143CS in Block 1/2 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, including the Blane discovery, from ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS. • BG Group, London, (London: BG) plans to buy interests in production-sharing contracts (PSCs) A and B covering blocks 3, 4 and 5 offshore Mauritania from Hardman Resources Ltd., West Perth, Australia, (Australia: HDR) for US$132 million. • BP (London: BP) has sold its stake in China's Sinopec Corp. (Hong Kong: 0386) in a share placement worth HK$5.8 billion (US$744 million). BP paid about US$385 million for the Sinopec stake in October 2000 in Sinopec's IPO. Morgan Stanley handled the placement.