Exploration manager Greg Ambrose, who undertook the two-month study, said the Neoproterozoic petroleum system, known as the Aralka Formation, could have expelled some of these hydrocarbons into traps as oil, gas and condensate.

The Perth-based frontier explorer said the study, spanning 90,000 square kilometres, added a new dimension to its 2007-08 exploration program, which is currently being finalised.

The Amadeus Basin is already home to several producing oil and gas fields, including Palm Valley and Mereenie, which had reserves of 24 million barrel of oil and 656 billion cubic feet of gas when production started in the mid 1980s. Both fields are still in production.

Central said a new look at the Aralka Formation petroleum system, which has previously been overlooked by explorers, shows elevated organic carbon contents over 90,000 square kilometres based on new stratigraphic correlations.

“Central believes the newly recognised regional extent of the gas play is very significant and will augment the deeper Heavitree Quartzite gas/Helium play in the south of the basin and Ordovician oil plays to the north, both of which if successful, would result in early cash flow,” the company said.

In the third and fourth quarters, Central and its partners – Helium Australia and Petroleum Exploration – plan to drill the Blamore oil prospect, the Ooraminna gas/condensate prospect and the Mt Kitty gas/condensate/Helium prospect.

The wells will target an independently assessed potential of 2.4 Tcf of gas, 105Bcf of Helium and 100MMbbl oil, at the P10 level of confidence.