Australian energy company Woodside said it was wading into the waters off the coast of Senegal after acquiring assets from Conoco Philips for $350 million.

"We are taking advantage of our balance sheet to acquire a world-class asset that fits well with our capabilities, offers significant future upside in exploration and line-of-sight to near term oil production," Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said in a statement.

Woodside's deal, which includes a compensation adjustment of about $80 million, covers three reserve areas off the coast of Senegal, including the SNE and FAN deep-water oil discoveries, among the largest finds made in the last two years.

Australia's FAR Ltd. said last year it was evaluating the potential for commercial operations in a basin said to hold at least 200 million barrels of oil off the coast of Senegal. FAR Ltd. said it welcomed the introduction of its Australian counterpart after Conoco expressed early interest in leaving Senegal behind.

FAR Managing Director Cath Norman said the company is still assessing the results from four appraisal wells in what's described as a world-class basin. The company in April said an independent assessment of the SNE field raised the reserve estimate by about 20 percent.

Woodside's Coleman said the deal was in line with a strategy to build a portfolio in emerging oil basins.

"Woodside will bring to the joint venture expertise in deep water drilling, development and operation of subsea infrastructure and floating production storage and offloading vessels," he said.

Woodside in February acquired a 65 percent interest in a production sharing contract offshore Senegal and Guinea-Bissau from Impact Oil & Gas for an undisclosed sum.