Chumpy,I understand your frustrations, and second your prophetic...

Chumpy,

I understand your frustrations, and second your prophetic lament regarding the share price. If I may, I would like to add a few things and respond to some details within your post.
I, as always, reiterate that I speak only of my own volition, and as such this is just my opinion.

I do not believe the information offered by Central to be red herrings at all. Whilst, I agree they will obviously garner interest from shareholders and potential shareholders during times of capital raising, I believe your accusation that these are merely a ruse, are a little far fetched.

There are obviously issues, like you say, or else the share price wouldn't be languishing.

Before I get into that, I would suggest, like every other junior exploration ASX listed company, they have their board look over every deal, and in many cases, the board instructs the MD (or whomever is looking after JV deals) on what are acceptable terms and set parameters BEFORE any meeting takes place. We cannot know for sure who is the road block, and as such it would be difficult to point fingers.

In many cases, this is an outsourced process whereby professionals take on the obligation of sourcing Joint Venture partners through their own networks of clients. I know that UBS performs that service, as do Citic Securities (specialising in Chinese partners). I would also hazard a guess EVERY reputable investment bank is able to do thusly also. Now I am not aware of Central employing this service, as it has never been announced, so if they don't, my suggestion is that they DO. It would take the work out of finding a suitable partner (from both perspectives) and there would already be a mediator involved knowing the parameters of both companies involved in negotiations. Seems a logical way to go. In Central's case in particular, it seems the most obvious step as there are too many resources spread across too much acreage to possibly negotiate with EVERY possible group. A professional organisation could take this on (and perhaps more than one of them) and mandate each specific resource (or exploration permit) and find suitable JV partners.

I agree that there are some shortcomings at board-level, and some business decisions could do with more thought. I feel they need a Business Development Manager with vast corporate financial experience in order to take on processes that require this sort of expertise. It wouldn't require some monstrous wage either. As is stands, there is not anyone of note at the company with the requisite skill, or determination to fulfill that particular role, so I feel it would need to be sourced.

I also offer that I do not see this as a negative. The company was a junior explorer, with some minor exploration successes under their belt, and a staged process underway to identify more targets in a staggeringly large acreage. They have recently uncovered their first major exploration success, deemed worthy of further testing in order to possibly identify a commercial asset. As such, they can be considered a pre-developer, and this would justify some shuffling around of staff and new additions (if not some replacements for others). There is also the potential for a new board member to come in, if that is the way the company believes it can move forward. Any such candidate would need to be an obvious choice and demonstrate an ability to fulfill all of Central Petroleum's objectives:
1. monetise Surprise
2. List on the TSX
3. Find JV Partners
4. Commit to further exploration

So what I am getting at is, I believe JH is a natural leader and a good one for the company, IF some of these things are addressed. You could not for one, be upset at the commissioning of an external adviser to speed up the Joint Venture process. This is something JH could very easily do, and for all we know, may already be considering. This would be good management, and should be treated so.

I also believe he made an outstanding managerial decision to bring in Dalton Halgren. This was one appointment which, after reading of his appointment, phoned JH in order to ask of his credentials, and why specifically he was selected. JH made it very clear to me that he had screened many people for this role, and Dalton's experience in unconventional and difficult plays in America made him an outstanding candidate, not only for Surprise, but all of Central's prospects. As it stands, it was Dalton's horizontal drilling experience which probably helped us achieve our success. JH believed in his appointment, and it has proven an astute one. JH gets very little credit for that one. To me, it demonstrates an ability to see an issue, and to resolve it - a clear strength of a manager.

You also say: "Heugh is probably a good , maybe a great geo , but as a CEO , he just does not cut the mustard". This is a public company , not his company...
No where have I seen or heard JH claim the company to be his own. In fact, I find him to be one of the most accessibly MD's in any company I have invested in. He makes time for investors where others do not, and in actuality takes on a very difficult role for the company - that of front man. He takes on ALL criticism, for decisions that for all intents and purposes probably come from the board room. I cannot back that up with fact as I am not privy to the inner sanctum, but like you say, this is an ASX listed company... they ALL have boards, all of which have say in which direction the company heads.
He is also not the CEO as such a role does not exist within the company.

I do share your frustration over the share price, and offer to you that people are still concerned about the EPT results. Many are also concerned that the company may take the decision not to drill another hole near the current one. There are questions being asked of where the money will go, and no real answers other than "we will see how the EPT goes". This is always likely to frighten investors. Also, whilst there are 1.3B shares on issue now, it will remain in the hands of the traders. I would surmise a company listing on the TSX would eventually consider a stock consolidation. This would calm down the voracious trading around announcements, and boost the price to a level where larger institutional investors would be happy to invest (given it is in conjunction with a commercial success).

As for the other companies and their performance. Wait until they have some measure of failure... they only have one asset on which to lean their hopes. Once that goes, hopes vanish with them. Central endures by virtue of its huge permit block and boundless potential. Even with struggles on certain targets, there are always more targets. You cannot say that for many companies.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Good luck to all.

RB