Woodside: No merit to spat over Senegalese oil

Woodside and FAR Ltd. are two Australian energy companies included in a consortium with Cairn Energy exploiting the reserves off the coast of Senegal. Parties to the effort are at odds over the transfer of assets from Conoco Phillips to Woodside, which aims to transition to the role of the operator.

FAR Ltd issued a plea to an international court in Paris to intervene in the spat. Woodside in a statement said the government of Senegal has confirmed its role in the joint venture.

"Woodside does not believe that FAR's claim has any merit," the company stated.

FAR has said the government in Senegal hasn't yet signed off on some of the contractual terms to facilitate the move, adding Cairn was the operator and responsible for delivering the project development schedule. Woodside said FAR's claim was inhibiting progress.

Cairn had no statement on the dispute. In May, the company said the near-term focus was on defining the scale and scope of the SNE oil field, which was considered one of the largest ever made when it was declared in 2014.

Cairn said it aims to submit a development plan to Senegal's government next year with the aim of producing oil from the field by the early 2020s.

FAR Ltd., a minority partner offshore Senegal, said in April it generated about $60 billion in capital through a placement of shares that it would use to finance developments off the coast of West Africa.