Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie have taken lead roles on a $4bn (£2.5bn) energy deal that saw French oil company Total buy a 12% stake in Russian gas producer Novatek as part of a strategic partnership.

Linklaters advised the acquirer on the deal, which also saw Total take a 20% stake in Novatek's Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. London corporate partner Dominic Sanders led the Linklaters team advising Total.

Bakers advised Novatek's two main shareholders – chairman Leonid Mikhelson and non-executive director Gennady Timchenko on the sale of the stake. The international firm fielded Moscow and London-based teams led by Russian corporate head Sergei Voitishkin and London-based energy chief Hugh Stewart respectively.

The London team included banking partner Ian Jack, as well as associates Mark O'Connor and David Scott. The Moscow team included banking partner Andrei Afanasiev and associates Sergey Krokhalev, Olga Komleva and Ekaterina Sorokina.

The latest deal, which was personally approved by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, extends a $900m (£553m) joint venture between Total and Novatek agreed in 2009. That transaction, on which Linklaters also advised, saw the companies agree to develop the onshore Termokarstovoye gas field in the Russian Arctic.

Novatek is Russia's largest independent gas producer. The Yamal LNG project, of which Novatek owns 51%, will develop the South Tambeyskoye field in the Yamal peninsula, where there are estimated to be 1,250bn cubic metres of gas, allowing production of more than 15 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas each year.