Central Petroleum Limited and farmout partner Total have agreed to increase expenditure for the Stage 1 exploration program of their Joint Venture in the South Georgina Basin by US$35 million.

Stage 1 covers initial exploration activities on the three Queensland permits ATP909, 911 and 912, and the one Northern Territory application area EP(A)132. As Stage 1 started in the second half of 2013, to date 974km of seismic has been recorded on the Queensland permits, with a number of core wells planned to be drilled from April 2014. Exploration will not get underway in the NT until the title has been granted.

In the farmout agreement signed in November 2012, it was announced that US$60 million would be spent on Stage 1, split between US$48.5 million on the Queensland permits and US$11.5 million on the NT permit. It was also agreed that Total would fund the first 80% of costs, with Central paying the remaining 20%.

Tags: Central Petroleum Limited