Woodside Petroleum has moved decisively to cement its controlling position in its $5.5 billion oil project in Senegal, doing a deal to buy out the stake held by cash-strapped FAR Ltd even as a little known investment group targets the junior partner in a takeover.

FAR advised on Wednesday that it had struck an agreement with Woodside on Tuesday for the sale of its 14 per cent stake in the Sangomar project on the same terms as the $US45 million ($58.4 million) deal it had originally proposed to India's ONGC.