10.03.11 seismic acquisition

ASX ANNOUNCEMENT ASX CODE: CTP
11 March 2010
TO: The Manager, Company Announcements ASX Limited
Central rediscovers missing Pedirka & Amadeus Basin seismic data
Highlights:
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Central Petroleum has initiated a project to scan and digitalise vintage seismic data covering large areas in Pedirka and Amadeus Basins in central Australia.
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To date, the project has added approximately 2000kms of seismic to in-house database.
Central Petroleum Limited (ASX: CTP) (??Central?? or ??the Company??), as Operator has initiated a project to scan and digitalise recently rediscovered paper prints and sepias of vintage seismic data covering large areas in the Pedirka and Amadeus Basins in central Australia.
The seismic data was acquired in the 60??s, 70??s and 80??s and was previously considered as irretrievably lost as, prior to the 1980??s, there was no requirement to submit copies of all exploration data to the Northern Territory. The project, which is ongoing, has to date added approximately 2000kms of valuable seismic to the in-house digital seismic database.
Central Petroleum Managing Director John Heugh said ??The additional seismic control is expected to contribute significantly to the exploration effort in Central-operated permits by supplementing the current subsurface control at a fraction of new seismic acquisition costs.??
Pedirka Basin
The Pedirka Basin is contiguous with the well known Cooper Basin in central Australia, and in most part, shares similar geological objectives.
While the area is untested it is considered to be oil prone as a result of the residual oil legs observed in peripheral wells such as Colson-1 and Poolawanna-1, the latter of which flowed oil to surface as well as oil shows in the recently drilled Blamore 1 and Simpson West 1 wells drilled by Central in 2008.
Amadeus Basin
The Amadeus Basin is a proven hydrocarbon province, with the Mereenie (oil and gas) and the Palm Valley (gas) Fields currently still in production after twenty years. While the area is significantly under-explored with on average 1 exploration well drilled per 5,000km2, the average discovery has been more than 4 million boe (2P) for each well. This is double the average discovery volumes for wells in the Perth or Cooper Basins, and many times that for the Surat Basin.