JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside’s planned acquisition of exploration assets in Senegal may be challenged by junior explorer FAR, which has a right of pre-emption over the proposed sale.
FAR is US energy group ConocoPhillips’s joint venture (JV) partner in the Senegal exploration assets and the company said on Tuesday that it believed the pre-emption period had not yet started.
“FAR advises that, in its opinion, and as supported by legal advice, ConocoPhillips has failed to comply with the terms of the joint operating agreement in relation to the proposed sale of its interests in the Senegal project,” the ASX-listed company said a statement.
ConocoPhillips and Woodside last month announced the deal, under which the Australian firm would pay $350-million for all the shares in the US group’s Senegal business, including a 35% working interest in a production sharing contract with the Senegal government covering three offshore exploration blocks.
The contract also includes the SNE and FAN deepwater oil discoveries, with SNE touted as one of the largest global deepwater oil discoveries since 2014. Woodside estimates that the SNE discovery contains 560-million barrels of recoverable oil.
The Senegal government has urged ConocoPhillips and FAR to reach an amicable solution on the pre-emption matter.