Two big news items This morning, two key events happened in the energy markets. LINN Energy ( LINEQ ) agreed to pay $2.3 billion to buy various energy assets from Devon Energy ( DVN -0.59% ). The deal should help Devon complete its transition plan to sell off all assets it considers to be outside of its core focus, with the vast majority of the sales involving natural-gas producing properties. Like many of its peers in the industry, Devon has tried to emphasize oil and liquids over natural-gas production, as gas prices have tumbled while oil has remained strong. LINN Energy obviously thinks that it's worth taking the other side of the deal, though; within the Dow, both Exxon and Chevron still have plenty of potential exposure to the natural-gas industry because of their major purchases of natural-gas companies during the energy boom.