West African oil ready to go, FAR Ltd. says

Africa-focused FAR Ltd. said its oil basins off the West African coast were primed for advancement and the company was ending the quarter debt free.

During the third quarter, the company said its SNE oil field off the coast of Senegal met the minimum threshold to be considered a commercial opportunity. The company, which estimates the field could be a game changer for Senegal, will undergo further appraisal next year.

"This has been achieved in only 21 months from the initial SNE-1 discovery well and highlights the high quality of the SNE oil field," the company said in a statement.

FAR is focusing the bulk of its spending and exploration efforts on emerging basins off the coast of West Africa. In a presentation to investors last month, the company said the region as a whole is the "world hot spot for oil and gas discovery."

The Senegalese development comes at a time when energy companies are reviewing their portfolio options against a price for crude oil that's less than half what it was two years ago. FAR said, however, that its offshore costs have declined more than 20 percent since 2014.

"FAR finished the September quarter with $50.5 million in cash and no debt," Managing Director Cath Norman said.

FAR expressed frustration with an announcement from ConocoPhillips that it sold off its interests in Senegal to rival Australian company Woodside Petroleum. FAR said the deal runs against some of the existing contractual agreements offshore Senegal.