CENTRAL PETROLEUM LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2012

Jan 11, 2012

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ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

ASX CODE: CTP

12 January 2012

TO: The Manager, Company Announcements ASX Limited

CONTACT: John Heugh +61 8 9474 1444

INCREASE IN OIL FLOW SURPRISE-1 RE-ENTRY

• 20% increase in oil flow to 380 bbls/day

• 50% decrease in water/drilling fluid cut to 4.4%

Central Petroleum Limited (ASX:CTP) (“Central” or the “Company”) advises that further flow testing today of the Surprise-1 Re-entry H (S1REH) well has resulted in a c.20% increase in sustained flow rate via a 32/64” choke to 380 bbls/day with a low 4.4% drilling fluid and/or water cut-reduced from a previous average of 8%.

The well is temporarily shut in for pressure build analysis and has reached over 520 PSI thus far and now increasing at 1.5 PSI per hour.

The Company plans to have the current oil flowed to date analysed and an interim reservoir analysis conducted to determine the best flow regime for an extension of the current well test programme, contingent on various logistic issues.

The oil flowed to date is a “light sweet crude” with an API Gravity averaging 40 Degrees. There is no evidence of Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S).

The Company’s Share Purchase Plan with Shares available at $0.055 to Shareholders on the Record Date (see ASX Announcement dated 23 September 2011) will remain open until and including 25 January 2012.

Further updates will be provided as significant information becomes available.

Any results or conclusions reported herein are based on preliminary data analysis and may be subject to change as more data becomes available. Nothing in this report represents or should be construed to represent any conclusions as to the ultimate flow capability of the well or to its commercial significance. Such conclusions must await, inter alia, further cleanup flow testing, extended production testing, data analysis and economic studies of potential commercial production and marketing scenarios.

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: +61 409 174 565

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:

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. 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 have not been necessarily 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.

This document may contain forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are outside the control of Central. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions include (but are not limited to) commodity prices, currency fluctuations, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, environmental risks and legislative, fiscal or regulatory developments, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates. Actual values, results or events may be materially different to those expressed or implied in this document. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward looking statement in this document is valid only at the date of issue of this document. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law and the ASX Listing Rules, or any other Listing Rules or Financial Regulators’ rules, Central, its agents, directors, officers, employees, advisors and consultants do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information or any of the forward looking statements in this document if events, conditions or circumstances change or that unexpected occurrences happen to affect such a statement. Sentences and phrases are forward looking statements when they include any tense from present to future or similar inflection words, such as (but not limited to) "believe," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "predict," "may," "hope," "can," "will," "should," "expect," "intend," "is designed to," "with the intent," "potential," the negative of these words or such other variations thereon or comparable terminology, may indicate forward looking statements.