CTP Mkt Cap AU$60m: Five billion dollar estimate for central Australian oil and gas

[Sparty]

Five billion dollar estimate for central Australian oil and gas resources.

Two new reports on the unconventional oil and gas resources in Central
Petroleum?s vast Northern Territory acreage have estimated their value as
high as $5 billion dollars.

The higher estimate, by Perth's Holt Campbell Payton consultancy, also
identified a Darwin-based gas to liquid plant as an attractive option.

A second report, by geologist David Warner of DSWPET, suggested a value
of $412 million based on transactions in unconventional acreage to date in
Australia and anticipated fully risked EMV values- but added that this
valuation will need to be re-visited as more exploration is done for
unconventionals in central Australian basins.

DSWPET forsees a pipeline-delivered cost, in Darwin, of $5.50 per thousand
cubic feet for gas based on a fully risked 5 TCFG and 250 million barrels of
oil recoverable based on fully risked gas and oil prospective resources.
A recurring factor in both reports is the fact that the unconventional
petroleum sector is virtually unknown in Australia, whereas in North America
it has become a major factor in the continent?s fuel supplies.

Recent success by Beach Oil in the Cooper Basin has encouraged confidence
however in the potential success of unconventional fuels as a major factor in
future oil and gas supplies for Australia's needs, and as valuable long-term
export commodities.

Central Petroleum CEO John Heugh, in releasing the reports, pointed to the
benefits indicated in the report: Australia's government is acutely aware that
oil and gas are currently costing the country a $16 billion deficit in the
import/export equation, which will double by 2015 unless more is done,
quickly, to exploit more home-grown fuel.

As an added bonus, the gas to liquid process uses most of its available
carbon, leaving a very small carbon footprint, so there is a double benefit of
low pollution and a low potential carbon tax cost in the future, he concluded.
Full reports are attached.

For further information contact:
John Heugh, Central Petroleum
Tel: +61 8 9474 1444 or
Ray Beatty, Corporate Writers
Tel: +613 9224 5272, M: +61 409 174 565