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Perth-based oil and gas junior Triangle Energy (Global) Limited (ASX: TEG) has appointed voluntary administrators, swept up by the collapse of joint venture partner Pilot Energy (ASX: PGY) and the looming spectre of a $200 million decommissioning bill for the Cliff Head offshore oil project.
Bryan Hughes of 101 Advisory has been appointed voluntary administrator of Triangle and three wholly owned subsidiaries, a week after Pilot Energy entered administration.
Pilot Energy owns a portfolio of energy infrastructure, carbon storage, and oil and gas exploration assets in Western Australia’s Perth Basin, including a 21.25 per cent working interest in the legacy Cliff Head Oil Field assets, which were being transitioned into a major CO2 storage hub and clean ammonia production facility.
Triangle's board determined the company could no longer trade while exposed to potential decommissioning obligations under Commonwealth offshore petroleum legislation.
The company held just $4.79 million in cash at the end of March this year and carried a market capitalisation of $2.2 million at close of trading on 16 July, a fraction of the estimated $200 million clean-up cost for the Perth Basin's only offshore oil facility.
Triangle had sold its onshore Cliff Head infrastructure to Pilot in exchange for a $5.6 million secured promissory note carrying 10 per cent interest and maturing in September this year. It also held an outstanding $250,000 loan to Pilot extended to 30 September this year.
Both are now likely unrecoverable, with Pilot itself in administration after burning through a $3.44 million placement raised in January, a $25 million equity subscription facility secured with LDA Capital in March, and $500,000 in emergency loans taken in June.
Triangle has previously said Pilot is fully responsible to fund all operational expenses of Cliff Head operations, but with Pilot unable to meet those obligations, the liability risk reverted to Triangle as a titleholder of the offshore production licence.
The national offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA moved quickly after Pilot's collapse, directing Triangle subsidiaries to maintain personnel and safety contracts on the Cliff Head platform.
The $200 million decommissioning estimate, drawn from a 2025 report by consultancy Xodus for the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, covers the entire Perth Basin offshore area where Cliff Head is the sole producing facility.
Neither Pilot nor Triangle had recorded any decommissioning liability on their respective balance sheets.
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has previously said the government could apply a levy on offshore oil and gas production to cover clean-up costs if necessary, adding that "taxpayers will never be left to foot the bill".
Triangle's most valuable remaining asset - exploration acreage in the Philippines - had already been spun out into separately ASX-listed Tetragon Energy, valued about $10 million.
The company also holds a 100 per cent interest in Perth Basin permits L7 and EP 437, which are the subject of ongoing Supreme Court litigation against Strike Energy and Echelon Resources, as well as UK licence interests and an Indonesian joint study agreement.
The fate of those assets under administration is yet to be determined.
Voluntary administrator Bryan Hughes is expected to assess Triangle's financial position and report to creditors in the coming weeks.
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