Lodore is an oil and gas explorer and producer listed on the London Stock Exchange, with a market cap of 90 million pounds (about A$211 million).

“Golden Gate’s issue of sole risk notices to the Padre Island Joint Venture involved a potentially large financial commitment and was undertaken with the support of Lodore,” said Golden Gate managing director, Sam Russotti.

“The sole risk notices created the opportunity to acquire Novus' interest at an attractive price.”

According to understandings made at the time the notices were issued, Golden Gate has finalised an agreement to on-sell half its Padre Island exploration interests to Lodore at cost, said Russotti.

Golden Gate has retained all of the production assets acquired from Novus, leaving it with a 40% to 80% working interest in the PIJV production assets and a 40% to 50% working interest in the key PIJV exploration assets.

Russotti said the company was now in discussions with several potential farm-in parties to acquire interests in the key exploration assets – Plum Deep, Manzano and Murdock South.

“The board is confident of being able to farm down to such levels on terms that will be attractive to our shareholders,” he said.

“We are considering transactions that will cover a substantial portion of exploration and development costs that will leave Golden Gate with a reduced working interest of about 20-30%."