Linklaters has taken a key role alongside five other firms on BP's $7bn (£4.6bn) acquisition of assets in Azerbaijan, Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico from oil and gas producer Devon Energy, reports The Am Law Daily.

Linklaters M&A partner Joshua Berick, corporate partner Stephen Griffin, and associates Colin Greenspon and Graham Phillips are advising BP on the acquisition. The magic circle firm is a longstanding adviser to BP and represented the oil giant on its $110bn (£72.5bn) merger with Amoco in 1998.

Devon turned to regular adviser Vinson & Elkins, with M&A partners Robin Fredrickson, Jeffrey Munoz and John Connally leading the US firm's team.

The all-cash deal will enable BP, the world's third-largest integrated oil company, to increase production and expand into new regions for energy extraction.

Under the terms of the deal, Devon will also buy up to half of BP's Kirby oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, and divest itself of deepwater drilling assets off the coast of Brazil.

Patrick Maguire, co-leader of the energy practice group at Canada's Bennett Jones, advised Devon on Canadian law legal aspects of the deal. Tozzini Freire served as the company's Brazilian outside counsel.

Michael Hurst, managing partner of the commercial practice at Fraser Milner Casgrain in Calgary, served as Canadian counsel to BP, while Monique Mavignier, Sergio Rocha, and Mariana Santos of Barbosa Mussnich & Aragao advised BP on Brazilian law.

The American Lawyer is a US sister title of Legal Week.