more to come

Together with the DJ report and extracts below, it looks like we can defiantly see another JV in the next few weeks and as long as the SP holds or gains and not fall back to 10c then we could see significant gains in the short term. Along with the second JV we should also see the sell off of the coal and the results of EPT and 3D data with a drilling program. How can you go wrong with this stock. Normally I sell after seeing gains of 20% but this one has given me over 100% gain in 10 months and based on things to come we should see an SP well above 30c by xmas. Hold hold hold and don't sell for peanuts, CTP would have to be a strong buy.

AFR online,

Central Petroleum chief executive Richard Cottee is locked in talks for a second, potentially more lucrative exploration deal after confirming yesterday Santos would join it in a $150 million shale oil and gas hunt in the Northern Territory.

Mr Cottee said the new accord, likely in the December quarter, would better demonstrate the value of Central’s acreage than the Santos agreement, which was dictated by a need to lock in funding. “To a large extent this deal is what I call the bean counter’s deal: it solves the financial tsunami that was going to descend on the company,” he said. “The next deal, I hope, is going to be much more of a rock doctor’s deal in the sense that it is going to show the value of the acreage.”

Central’s shares jumped 22.22 per cent yesterday to 16.5¢ after the new partners confirmed the details of their agreement, revealed in yesterday’s The Australian Financial Review. Brokers DJ Carmichael, which hosted yesterday’s investor call with Mr Cottee, said the Santos deal implied a value of about $11 an acre for Central’s exploration ground, sharply higher than Central’s enterprise value-per-acre multiple of about $2.

“Critically, the Santos farm-in will ensure exploration commitments for the Amadeus and Pedirka basins are met without Central having to raise additional capital,” DJ Carmichael analyst Edwin Bulseco said. He calculated that applying the $11-per-acre valuation to all of Central’s acreage would yield a see-through value of about $484 million, or 35¢ a share.

The transaction boosts Santos’s exploration presence in the Northern Territory, seen as highly promising for shale oil and gas. Santos will earn a 70 per cent stake in 13 Central exploration licences in the Amadeus and Pedirka basins by funding a three-stage exploration program to start early next year. It has the option of exiting the venture after the first $30-million phase, depending on results.

Santos’s vice-president for eastern Australia, James Baulderstone, said yesterday the two basins “hold great potential”. While Central has yet to prove up any reserves, the discovery of oil at the Surprise-1 well in the Amadeus Basin in January has augured well for further finds. Surprise, estimated to hold between 4 million and 110 million barrels of oil, is not included in the Santos deal, nor the second deal.

Mr Cottee said talks about the second deal were being complicated by the large size of the potential partner. “No one ever tells one how to negotiate at an MBA course against some of the world’s biggest companies with the world’s weakest balance sheet,” he remarked. While Central hoped to farm out a majority stake at a higher price per acre than the Santos accord, the deal was yet to be pinned down. “The fat lady hasn’t sung yet; she’s agreed that she might sing,” he said.

Herald Sun,

CENTRAL Petroleum chief executive Richard Cottee is aiming to secure a second high-profile joint venture partner in coming months after snaring a $150 million agreement with Adelaide-based Santos
Mr Cottee said he was working on another joint venture deal that would cover a portion of Central's remaining 100 per cent-owned acreage.
"If that comes together, the company is going to be in an incredibly strong position to commercialise a lot of its acreage," Mr Cottee told The Australian.

He said the second deal would mean around 30 per cent of Central's entire acreage holdings would be under joint venture.

The Australian,

CENTRAL Petroleum chief executive Richard Cottee is aiming to secure a second high-profile joint venture partner in coming months after snaring a $150 million agreement with Adelaide-based Santos.