CENTRAL PETROLEUM LIMITED — Board/Management Information 2011

May 10, 2011

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ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

ASX CODE: CTP

MEDIA RELEASE ATTACHED

11 May 2011

TO: The Manager, Company Announcements ASX Limited

CONTACT: John Heugh +61 8 9474 1444

CENTRAL BEEFS UP TEAM FOR PLANNED DRILLING CAMPAIGN

Central Petroleum Limited (ASX: CTP ) (“ Central ”) has pleasure in announcing the appointment of several new team members in its exploration and development team.

Independent geological firm, DSWPET Pty Ltd has now identified over 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Amadeus Basin west of Alice Springs, (See ASX announcement titled “Independent Amadeus Unconventional Gas and Oil Appraisal” dated 7 February 2011) , and another 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Southern Georgina Basin to the north-east in unconventional prospective recoverable resources at “mean” level, (See ASX announcement titled “Central’s Unconventional Resources Rival the Bakken” dated 11 April 2011).

US Group Ryder Scott has reported on similar prospective recoverable resources in Canadian group PetroFrontier’s acreage in the Southern Georgina Basin bordering Central’s acreage.

In the Officer Basin, immediately to the south of Central’s acreage in the Amadeus Basin, another Canadian group, Rodinia Resources have announced plans to drill several wells to test unconventional potential. Canadian explorers have spearheaded a dramatic resurgence of interest in central Australia’s onshore basins since Central first announced technical reports promoting unconventional potential in the Southern Georgina and the Amadeus Basin. (Central released its first in-house assessment of unconventional hydrocarbons in its central Australian project areas in April 2008, well before any other company publically promoted unconventional potential in Australia.)

Central is pleased to announce the following appointments :

Al Thorsen has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, primarily responsible for the management of drilling exploration, logistics, production, contracting and marketing. He has had thirty years' experience in managing operations across the oil fields of North America from British Columbia to North Dakota including the Williston Basin as well as remote jungle operations in Ecuador. His management roles have included exploration, extraction, logistics, marketing and business development. He comes to Central from his position of Vice President Operations, Zargon Oil & Gas of Calgary, a company with significant production of 10,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent, mostly oil. Previously he co-founded Orleans Energy and in his career he was operations manager of Renata Resources and Vice President Operations and Marketing for Rio Alto Resources International. He also was country manager of Ecuador for Rio Alto Exploration.

"Al brings to us vital North American expertise in both vertical conventional and horizontal drilling and completion techniques with multiple stage frac jobs a part of the

process." said Central Petroleum Managing Director John Heugh. “There is no doubt that North America is the home of the revolution of unconventional exploitation and so it is logical we should seek expertise from there. Al not only has high level management and technical expertise but as a student worked as a roughneck on oil drilling rigs to fund his university studies in Petroleum Engineering at Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology. This mix of professional and hands on experience will prove invaluable in the exploration and development of the remote desert basins the Company operates.”

Mr Thorsen is expected to take up his new role as soon as a Section 457 visa is granted.

In putting together his high-performance team, Mr Heugh has also added geophysicist Dr Jacques Sayers with over 20 years' experience in 2D and 3D seismic modelling, a PhD in geophysics from the prestigious University of Adelaide School Of Petroleum and a Masters degree in geophysics from the University of Durham in the United Kingdom. He also adds a Certificate of Management from the University of Sydney and an Honours degree in geophysics from the University of Tasmania to his resume.

With both industry and high level government experience, Dr Sayers is a highly regarded, and widely published, interpretational geoscientist who has worked on many of Australia's most successful geological projects. His work has included the Cooper, Perth, Bowen and Warburton basins onshore, and Gippsland, North West Shelf, Exmouth and Great Australian Bight offshore.

Dr Sayers foreign experience includes Turkey, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Nigeria and Mexico. He comes to Central from his previous position as Team Leader for the Petroleum and Marine Division of Geoscience Australia.

Nathan Palmer is the third new member on the Central Petroleum team, a geophysicist from Western Australia with a First Class Honours degree from Curtin University. He comes to Central after a career with WesternGeco, working on both onshore and offshore exploration and production seismic acquisition, programming and analysis.

As Group Leader of a team of geophysicists, his management covered project processing, planning workflow, and all aspects of data processing, analysis and presentation.

Emmanual Cocodia, the fourth new member on the Central Petroleum Team, adds 8 years experience with Nexen and Sasol as a geoscientist, with well developed skills in petroleum geology and geophysics. He has worked in the oil basins of Australia, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique and the North Sea in exploration, development and operations. He holds a post graduate Diploma in Management from the London School of Economics and a Masters Degree and DIC in geoscience from the prestigious Imperial College in London.

Finally, UWA Engineering Honours graduate, Damian Theseira, has been appointed as a junior Drilling Engineer and will be assisting Mr Thorsen in drilling planning and execution.

Central welcomes the new members to its team and looks forward to introducing them to the challenges of exploration and production within the vast acreage it operates in central Australia.

The Company is keen to accelerate a liquids focussed programme over the next 12 months focussed on re-entry and testing of Surprise-1 for oil potential in both conventional and unconventional horizons, drilling of the Mt Kitty prospect, a sub-salt 2 TCFG UGIIP (“best”) gas/condensate/helium prospect and the drilling of Madigan-1, the first well on a giant structure in the Pedirka Basin with UOIIP (“best”) potential of over 3 billion barrels based on preliminary mapping of new seismic acquired in 2010. Seismic acquisition and future drilling plans over a number of play types are also being evaluated inclusive of the Surprise-Johnstone area in EP115 for conventional and unconventional oil exploration or development, the Madigan and Pellinor Devonian reefal carbonate plays in the Pedirka and, subject to grant, unconventional and conventional oil and gas potential within the Central’s Southern Georgina Basin Arthur Creek Shale plays. The Company’s Queensland ATPs 909, 911 and 912 immediately adjacent to PetroFrontier’s Southern Georgina Basin, are anticipated to be granted during the second half of 2011.

John Heugh

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Managing Director Central Petroleum Limited

For further information contact:

John Heugh Tel: +61 8 9474 1444 or Ray Beatty Corporate Writers Tel: +613 9224 5272, M: 0409 174 565

NOTICE: The participating interests of the relevant parties in the respective permits and permit applications which may be applicable to this announcement are:

• EP-82 (excluding the Central subsidiary Helium Australia Pty Ltd (“HEA”) and Oil & Gas Exploration Limited (“OGE”) (previously He Nuclear Ltd) Magee Prospect Block) - HEA 100%

• Magee Prospect Block, portion of EP 82 – HEA 84.66% and OGE 15.34%.

• EP-93, EP-105, EP-106, EP-107, EPA-92, EPA-129, EPA 130, EPA-131, EPA-132, EPA-133, EPA-137, EPA-147, EPA-149, EPA152, EPA-160, ATP-909, ATP-911, ATP-912 and PELA-77 - Central subsidiary Merlin Energy Pty Ltd 100% (“MEE”).

• The Simpson, Bejah, Dune and Pellinor Prospect Block portions within EP-97 – MEE 80% and Rawson Resources Ltd 20%.

• EP-125 (excluding the Central subsidiary Ordiv Petroleum Pty Ltd (“ORP”) and OGE Mt Kitty Prospect Block) and EPA-124 – ORP 100%.

• Mt Kitty Prospect Block, portion of EP 125 - ORP 75.41% and OGE 24.59%.

• EP-112, EP-115, EP-118, EPA-111 and EPA-120 - Central subsidiary Frontier Oil & Gas Pty Ltd 100%.

• PEPA 18/08-9, PEPA 17/08-9 and PEPA 16/08-9 - Central subsidiary Merlin West Pty Ltd 100%.

General Disclaimer and explanation of terms:

Undrilled potential volumetrics of gas or oil may be categorised as Undiscovered Gas or Oil Initially In Place (UGIIP or UOIIP) or Prospective Recoverable Oil or Gas in accordance with AAPG/SPE guidelines. Such assessments or estimates are not to be relied upon in formulating any investment decisions as such numbers may have been derived on information that does not include any drilling data or may be based on incomplete data including insufficient seismic. Since oil via Gas to Liquids Processes (GTL) volumetrics may be derived from gas estimates the corresponding categorisation applies. Unless otherwise annotated any potential oil, gas or helium UGIIP or UOIIP figures are at “high” estimate in accordance with the guidelines of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as preferred by the ASX Limited but the ASX Limited takes no responsibility for such quoted figures.

As new information comes to hand from data processing and new drilling and seismic information, preliminary results may be modified. Resources estimates, assessments of exploration results and other opinions expressed by CTP in this announcement or report have not been reviewed by relevant Joint Venture partners. Therefore those resource estimates, assessments of exploration results and opinions represent the views of Central only. Exploration programmes which may be referred to in this announcement or report may not have been approved by relevant Joint Venture partners and accordingly constitute a proposal only unless and until approved. All exploration is subject to contingent factors including but not limited to weather, availability of crews and equipment, funding, access rights and joint venture relationships and the political process.

MEDIA RELEASE 11 MAY 2011

CENTRAL PETROLEUM GOES ALL OUT TO STRENGTHEN ITS RESOURCE TEAM

Central Petroleum is bringing Canadian expertise to bear on their vast unconventional oil and gas resources in central Australia.

The Company’s independent surveys have now identified over 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Amadeus Basin west of Alice Springs, and another 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the Southern Georgina Basin to the north-east in prospective recoverable resources at “mean” level.

Extraction is now the focus, with the oil locked within shale and tight sediment beds. While this problem is unfamiliar to Australian engineers, it is well practised in North America. Hence Central has assembled a team headed by a leading Canadian production engineer.

Al Thorsen has had thirty years' experience in managing operations across the oil fields of North America from British Columbia to North Dakota including the Williston Basin.

His management covered exploration, extraction, logistics, marketing and business development He comes to Central from Zargon Oil & Gas of Calgary, a company with significant 10,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent production.

Previously he founded Orleans Energy and in his career he was operations manager of Renata Resources and Rigel Oil & Gas, and VP Operations for Rio Alto Resources International. He also was country manager of Ecuador for Rio Alto..

"Al brings to us vital North American expertise in horizontal drilling and completion techniques with multiple stage frac jobs a part of the process." said Central Petroleum Managing Director John Heugh.

In putting together his high-performance team, Mr Heugh has added geophysicist Dr Jacques Sayers with over 20 years' experience in 2D and 3D seismic modelling, a PhD in geophysics from the prestigious University of Adelaide School Of Petroleum and a Masters degree in geophysics from the University of Durham..

A highly regarded, and widely published, interpretational geoscientist, Dr Sayers has worked on many of Australia's most successful geological projects.

Starting from the old Electrolytic Zinc Company in 1980, his work has included the Cooper, Perth, Bowen and Warburton basins onshore, and Gippsland, North West Shelf, Exmouth and Great Australian Bight offshore.

Foreign experience includes Turkey, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Nigeria and Mexico.

He comes to Central after 17 years as Team Leader for the Petroleum and Marine Division of Geoscience Australia.

Nathan Palmer is the third new member on the Central Petroleum team, a geophysicist from West Australian with a First Class Honours degree from Curtin University.

He comes after an 11-year career with WesternGeco, working on both onshore and offshore exploration and production seismic acquisition, programming and analysis.

As Group Leader of a team of geophysicists, his management covered project processing, planning workflow, and all aspects of data processing, analysis and presentation.

The fourth team member is Emmanual Cocodia , who adds 8 years’ experience with Nexen and Sasol as a geoscientist, with well developed skills in petroleum geology and geophysics.

He has worked in the basins of Australia, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique and the North Sea in exploration, development and operations. He holds a post graduate Diploma in Management from the London School of Economics and a Masters Degree and DIC in geoscience from the prestigious Imperial College in London.

University of Western Australia Petroleum Engineering Honours Graduate, Damian Theseira , also joins the team to assist Mr Thorsen in well planning and execution.

Central welcomes the new members to its team and looks forward to introducing them to the challenges of exploration and production within the vast acreage it operates in central Australia.

"We have vast resources of oil and gas within our territory," said Mr Heugh. "We know generally where it is and how much there is. Now all our efforts are going into more closely defining it and commencing extraction.

"With these additions to my team, I now have considerably more ability and knowledge to pull this company into a positive revenue flow with exploration success"

For further information contact:

John Heugh Tel: +61 8 9474 1444 or Ray Beatty , Corporate Writers Tel: +61 409 174 565