Woodside’s Senegal epic finally wraps up after FAR vote

Woodside Petroleum’s epic journey to buy out minority partner FAR Ltd from its $5.9 billion oil project in Senegal is finally wrapping up after shareholders in the cash-strapped explorer voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal at a meeting that was delayed multiple times on hopes of a better one emerging.

Shareholders at the meeting in Melbourne voted 97.25 per cent in favour of the $US45 million ($58.2 million) sale to Woodside of FAR’s 13.67 per cent stake in the Sangomar project. The deal will remove the threat to FAR’s financial viability and should allow its shares to resume trading in early May after being suspended since September, chief executive Cath Norman said.