Celtic Exploration Ltd. has announced that its request to be acquired by energy firm ExxonMobile in a 3.1 billion dollar deal has been approved by Ottawa.

The deal, which is expected to be fully completed on February 26, 2013, was approved under the Investment Canada Act in which further regulatory approvals are no longer required. It will also allow Exxon to add huge natural liquids to its portfolio of about 221,000 hectares in the Montney formation in British Columbia.

The act was also the legislation that allowed the merger between Nexen Inc. and China's CNOOC Ltd in $15.1 billion deal in December 2012.

Furthermore, the deal resembled the big move taken by ExxonMobil into natural gas sector when it acquired American natural gas giant XTO in 2009 in a luxurious 41 billion-dollar agreement.