Central Petroleum’s exploration footprint represents a rare opportunity in Australia, covering largely under-explored hydrocarbon-bearing basins with enormous potential for oil and natural gases, including helium and naturally occurring hydrogen.  

The current Central portfolio encompasses opportunities within the Amadeus, Cooper, Otway and Wiso Basins. The total area held by Central for oil and gas exploration (both granted and under application) within these basins is 159,362 km² (50,393 km² granted and 108,969 km² under application).  

The Amadeus Basin has, to date, been a focus for most of Central’s exploration activity, with more than 150,000 km² of areal extent, five known working petroleum gas systems, and four fields having produced significant quantities of oil and gas. The Amadeus Basin is estimated to contain up to 53 Tcf of gas (compiled by EnergyQuest from independent sources). 

Notwithstanding the production history of the Amadeus Basin, the region is under-explored with only a total of 40 exploration wells and ~14,500 km of 2D seismic acquired across the entire basin. This can be attributed to the small, geographically isolated and historically oversupplied Northern Territory gas market, which has limited investment, and was only connected to the east coast gas market in 2019. 

Reviews of recent and historic technical data confirm the Amadeus Basin is one of the few remaining large under-explored, onshore, working hydrocarbon systems in Australia. A total of 115 potential targets (65 gas and 50 oil) have been identified at this point within Central’s permits and applications in the Amadeus Basin. 

Identified exploration opportunities include several targets that lie above or below our existing producing fields, other targets close to our existing fields and deeper sub-salt targets, including helium and naturally occurring hydrogen. 

From 2026, Central has expanded its exploration footprint into two of Australia’s most prolific oil and gas provinces – Victoria’s Otway Basin and the Cooper Basin in South Australia. Several wells are planned to be drilled across these areas from late 2026, providing a relatively low-cost opportunity to target significant oil and gas resources close to exsisting infrastructure and markets.