Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has scooped a primary role on 2005′s second largest US deal – ConocoPhillips’ $35.6bn (£20.3bn) acquisition of energy rival Burlington Resources – as international advisers gear up for a wave of big-ticket energy deals.

The deal, announced yesterday (12 December), will create a combined oil giant with a market capitalisation of $135bn (£77bn). New York M&A leader Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz is representing Conoco.