Adelaide, Oct 2, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - Central Petroleum Limited (ASX:CTP)(PINK:CPTLF) is participating in a recently announced Northern Territory (NT) government package to aid companies wishing to conduct exploration in little known areas. A copy of the NT government release is below.
Central intends to do a gravity survey costing $56,000 of which the NT government will contribute $28,000. The subject of the study are a interpreted series of well developed salt structures identified by a recent seismic programme in EP112 in the Amadeus Basin. Similar salt structures are very important in creating traps for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Mauritania, and the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

Central welcomes the NT government's initiative and looks forward to further expansions of the programme in the future.

Central's Senior Geoscientist, Mr Tony Rudge, said today " this government funded initiative is setting a new standard in government/industry co-operation in an area where the fundamentals of prospectivity have been well established, but with such a large area to contend with, some very interesting geology has been overlooked by previous explorationists."

Earlier phases of exploration in the Amadeus have focussed almost exclusively on Ordovician Pacoota Sandstone targets in obvious anticlinal surface structures.

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Northern Territory Government Media Release

Kon Vatskalis
MINISTER FOR RESOURCES
30 September 2008

Exploring New Ground
The Territory Government has awarded $767,000 in funding to assist exploration companies gain new information in areas of central Australia where there is limited geological knowledge.

The Minister for Resources, Kon Vatskalis, today announced the successful applicants for the Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program.

"Exploration and mining are key drivers behind the Northern Territory's economic growth," said Mr Vatskalis.

"The Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program comes under the Territory Government's $14.4 million Bringing Forward Discovery initiative over four years which aims to foster exploration in new areas of the Territory.

"The program provides companies with 50% of expenses (up to $100,000) to assist with the costs of exploration in remote areas.

"These collaborations will provide us with a considerable amount of new information in the vast areas of the Territory where prospective geology is buried beneath sand and soil cover."

The new project will focus on 4 geophysics projects and 7 drilling projects.

The geophysics projects will provide valuable gravity information while the drilling programs cover a wide range of geological settings targeting a range of commodities.

The successful companies for the drilling program are Mithril Resources Ltd, Dunmarra Energy, Bondi Mining Ltd, Proto Resources, St Barbara Mining Ltd, Uramet Minerals Ltd and Adelaide Resources Ltd.

Successful companies for the geophysical surveys are Quasar Resources Pty Ltd, Thundelarra Exploration Ltd and Central Petroleum Ltd.

Contact for media queries:
Nikola Lekias
MOB: +61-438-323-660
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