Sydney, Nov 19, 2007 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Central Petroleum Limited's (ASX: CTP) wholly owned subsidiary, Merlin Energy Pty Ltd, (Merlin) has met with the members of the Pmer Nyente Land Trust (ALT) to discuss a proposal put by Central Petroleum concerning an appropriate road corridor lease to the east of the Allitera Tableland to facilitate access to Merlin's interests in EP 93 and the Rawson Resources Limited's EP 97 which Merlin is farming in to. Merlin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Central Petroleum Limited. (Central or "CTP" ASX ticker)
Present at the meeting were representatives of all of the family groups with membership of the Land Trust concerned and the resolutions passed by unanimous vote and signature of a formal request to the Central Land Council were :
1. That the Pmere Nyente ALT agrees to the Central Petroleum Proposal and agrees to lease to Central Petroleum the land necessary for an access road to the east of the existing Colson Track across Pmere Nyente ALT lands to EP 93 and EP 97
2. The final access route will be subject to sacred site clearance and include the measures explained by Central Petroleum to prevent tourist access to the Allitra tableland which will include gating off access to the old Colson Track and the Numery Dam Road if requested.
3. The Central Land Council is instructed to finalise the necessary lease documents with Central Petroleum as soon as possible but in any case before December 31st 2007.
Central looks forward to finalising the road access lease with the CLC in accordance with the instructions of the ALT issued today at a duly convened meeting under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. The CLC was invited to attend the meeting but did not.
On 26th October 2007, Merlin formalized an agreement with Rawson Resources Limited (Rawson) to farmin to the Simpson, Bejah and Dune prospect blocks in the Pedirka Basin, a recognised prospective province for oil exploration with many similarities to the Cooper Basin.
The terms of the farmin agreement executed on the 26th October 2007 call for Merlin to complete and fund at the 100% level, 100 line km of seismic anywhere on Exploration Permit 97 and to drill one well in each of the prospect blocks to retain an 80% participating interest in the respective prospect blocks. The seismic and the first well are mandatory but Merlin has the option to cease expenditure at any time after that. The 80% participating interest was assigned with effect from the execution of the Agreement but shall be returned to Rawson if the programme does not proceed on each of the prospect blocks severally.
Merlin will be the operator of the farmin operations under an industry standard Joint Operating Agreement to be signed as soon as practicable prior to commencement of operations, the substantive terms of which have been agreed already.
The farmin arrangement is subject to, inter alia :
- the Central Land Council approving access via the Colson Track or the environs thereof around the Alitra Tableland
- Merlin satisfying itself (acting reasonably) that the costs of the access roads are not unreasonably high
The Agreement is planned to deliver to Merlin approximately 1,250 km2 of prospective exploration ground with 5 prospects ready to drill and several leads. Any Coal Bed Methane resources hosted by the prospect blocks will also be included.
Total recoverable Prospective Resources (SPE) hosted by the prospect blocks in the Rawson farmin have been assessed ranging from P50 or "best" estimate level of 260 mmbbls to a P10 or "high" level of 1,600 mmbbls.
Central now will operate in the Pedirka Basin, permits and applications consisting of EPs 93,105,107, the Rawson Prospect Blocks in EP 97 and permit applications 130,131 and PELA 77. Inclusive of Coal Bed Methane, the total potentially recoverable Prospective Resources within these permits has been assessed independently at P50 or "best" level as 320 mmbbls and 47 tcfg.
About Central Petroleum Limited
Central Petroleum Limited (
ASX:CTP) is a well-established, and emerging ASX-listed Australian oil and gas producer. In our short history, Central has grown to become the largest onshore gas producer in the Northern Territory (NT), supplying industrial customers and senior gas distributors in NT and the wider Australian east coast market.
Central is positioned to become a significant domestic energy supplier, with exploration and development plans across 180,000 km2 of tenements in Queensland and the Northern Territory, including some of Australia's largest known onshore conventional gas prospects. Central has also completed an MoU with Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to progress the proposed Amadeus to Moomba Gas Pipeline to a Final Investment Decision.
We are also seeking to develop the Range gas project, a new gas field located among proven CSG fields in the Surat Basin, Queensland with 135 PJ (net to Central) of development-pending 2C contingent resource.
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