ASX ANNOUNCEMENT ASX CODE: CTP6 December 2010TO: The Manager,...

ASX ANNOUNCEMENT ASX CODE: CTP
6 December 2010
TO: The Manager, Company Announcements ASX Limited
CONTACT: John Heugh +61 8 9474 1444
SURPRISE-1 UPDATE (EP-115) SUSPENSION OF DRILLING OPERATIONS
Central Petroleum Limited (ASX:CTP) (?Central?), as Operator, provides this drilling update for the Surprise-1 well.
At 1350 CST on Sunday 5 December 2010, an unplanned incident on the drill rig occurred which will cause the drilling of the Surprise 1 well to be delayed. The monkey board and 129 stands of racked drill pipe twisted around the rig mast by 30 degrees whilst the wireline sheaves were being repositioned.
No individuals of Central or any other company were injured in the incident and Central?s staff are working urgently with the rig owner, governmental authorities and others to normalise the situation without further incident.
As a result, drilling operations have necessarily been suspended until the required plant and equipment are mobilised to site in order to re-align the monkey board (anticipated to be a minimum of 7 days from the date of this announcement) and it is confirmed that the drilling rig is undamaged and able to continue drilling. Central senior staff are travelling to site to assist in safe recovery operations.
At this time Central is unable to forecast accurately the re-commencement of drilling operations.