Triangle Energy Global has reeled in $11.4 million in the March quarter – a staggering 73 per cent increase from the previous quarter – courtesy of oil sales associated with its Cliff Head joint venture (CHJV) partnership with Pilot Energy.
The company closed the period with $12.7 million in its coffers, up from a December quarter return of $7.51 million.
The bumper sales are the proceeds of two shipments from the pair’s CHJV – a collaboration that sees the duo undertake oil production activities at the Cliff Head field, about 270km north of Perth. The JV duo tabled average production figures of about 600 barrels of oil a day from the field for nearly 54,000 barrels during the March quarter.
Triangle says the production, export and sales route continues to run much like a well-oiled machine. Once the oil is tapped from the Cliff Head A platform, it is stored at the onshore Arrowsmith facility, trucked to Geraldton and loaded onto Triangle’s charted tanker, the AB Paloma, with 26,000 barrels at a time to reach its 52,000-barrel capacity. The tanker then departs to a refinery buyer in Asia for a spot market sale, with the proceeds landing in the joint bank account several months later.
The Cliff Head tie-up is currently split 79/21 in Triangle’s favour. However, that dynamic is set to change after the company agreed to reduce its stake in the partnership to 40 per cent in exchange for $1 million, pending a government appraisal of the duo’s proposed carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) plan for the site.
Once the zone’s sub-surface reservoirs are depleted, the partnership plans to store carbon inside them. Leading the charge, Pilot Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Svante Technologies on behalf of the JV to collaborate on a one-stop-shop solution for carbon capture, transportation and storage.
Triangle previously noted the CCS development could increase the lifespan of the Cliff Head oil field by 20 years and deliver a sumptuous net present value of up to $210 million.
Rounding out a busy quarter, the company wrapped up the acquisition of two highly-prospective oil and gas permits in WA’s Perth Basin with ASX-listed Key Petroleum. It previously held a major stake in both assets and mopped up the balance in exchange for $600,000 in cash and $500,000 in shares to be issued by the end of June. The deal also sees the company buy back a five per cent production royalty from Key Petroleum and says it makes the permits more valuable.
Perth-based Triangle already held a 50 per cent stake in the L7 permit, an onshore exploration acreage south of Geraldton in Western Australia’s Mid West region. The tenure blankets the Allanooka Terrace in the North Perth Basin, sharing many attributes with the Dandaragan Trough – a major gas-producing area of the Perth Basin.
The second of Triangle’s recently-secured permits, EP 437, is an onshore basin on the rim of the North Perth Basin and adjacent to the Dongara oil and gas field south of Geraldton.
Since inking its deal with Key Petroleum, Triangle has farmed out 50 per cent of its L7 production license and EP 437 exploration permit, with New Zealand Oil & Gas and Talon Energy each snapping up a 25 per cent stake.
Triangle’s $9.96m deal with NZO, finalised during the quarter, is made up of $1.9 million for the outlay funding costs associated with the detailed Bookara 3D seismic dataset and $6.56 million related to the drilling costs of two planned holes in L7. Another $1.5 million has been allocated for a well in EP 437.
Triangle previously estimated that the two permits could collectively hold 617 billion cubic feet of gas and 19 million barrels of oil and plans to test the inventory with the three exploration wells next year.
Outside of daily operations, Triangle retains a 10 per cent slice in Queensland-based oil and gas developer, State Gas. During the quarter, State Gas announced a round of successful production tests at the Rougemont 2/3 well at its Rolleston West Project, along with snapping up strategic tenure near the Arcadia gas field in Queensland in a joint venture with Australian gas giant, Santos.
With its saddlebags brimming with cash, an income stream from its CHJV and its hands on a strategic gas play in the evolving Perth Basin, Triangle looks to be well-funded as it gears up for a flurry of activity in the next financial year.
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By Helen Barling
