The two companies became business partners last year, when PetroHunter’s subsidiary Sweetpea signed a $US30 million farm-in agreement to help develop Lakes’ onshore tight gas and oil prospects in the Gippsland and Otway basins.

Then yesterday, Lakes announced it had acquired PEP 169 off Sweetpea, which was awarded the permit last June.

According to Lakes, there are good data sets associated with PEP 169, along with “identified areas of high prospectivity”.

Located north of Port Campbell, the permit is adjacent to a producing gas field.