(Reuters) - Australian oil and gas explorer FAR Ltd on Wednesday cut the estimated capital cost for the promising SNE oil project off Senegal by 33 percent to $2 billion.
FAR chairman Nic Limb said the Senegal discoveries, in which FAR has a 15 percent stake, were now moving toward a development decision.
"We are fortunate that development costs are at multi year lows which is helpful," Limb told the company's annual meeting.
"I am encouraged by the number of options appearing as we work on the financing task and I am confident we will achieve a sound outcome."
FAR is currently in arbitration over the sale by ConocoPhillips of a 35 percent interest in SNE project to Australia's Woodside for $350 million in 2016.
FAR had contended that it should have had pre-emptive rights over the ConocoPhillips stake, which was sold for what it considered a cheap price.
FAR has said it would not support arrangements for Woodside to take over as operator of the project from Britain's Cairn Energy PLC, which holds the remaining 40 percent of SNE.
Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said last month that the company was aiming to cut the cost of developing SNE by "quite a lot" from the initial $3 billion estimate.
Shares in FAR, which have gained more than 15 percent this year, rose 1.1 percent in morning trade in a lower overall market.
(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Joseph Radford and Richard Pullin)
