Central told the market this morning that Total had agreed to farm into EP(A)132 in the Northern Territory, and ATP(A) 909, 911, and 912 in Queensland, totalling six million acres.
The pair have already agreed to a first-year exploration program over the permits worth $60 million, with Central putting in 20% of that amount, or $12 million.
At its election, Total will then have the choice to commit the JV to a further two stages of exploration, worth a total $130 million.
Again, Central would be on the hook for 20% of the costs.
Should Total elect to fund 80% of stages two and three, it would grab a 68% interest in the permits, while Central would remain the operator.
Central would have operational control of the permits for the first four years of the deal, but should Total go up to stage three, then the French major would become operator over 90% of the permit areas.
Central would retain operatorship over 10% of the permits.
Chief executive Richard Cottee hailed the deal.
"The agreement brings of balance of benefits to Central and our shareholders," he said.
"It provides capital for a fully funded exploration program while also retaining significant interest in he nearly six million acres we hold in the Southern Georgina Basin."
The deal also means that exploration is now fully funded should Total see out the three-phase program.
Cottee stressed that the deal did not touch its Surprise acreage in the Northern Territory, but said it would give it the time to build a team and acquire operational expertise.
Meanwhile, Total said that the deal strengthened its presence in Australia.
"This deal is an important part of Total's strategy to grow its global gas business. With our participation in the two major LNG projects of Ichthys LNG and Gladstone LNG, Australia has become a core area for Total," Managing Director for Total E&P Australia Mike Sangster said.
"I'm delighted with this deal and its potential to add large resources to our portfolio, as well as with the possibility to become a significant Operator in Australia."
As part of the focus in Central gaining more operational expertise, it has also decided to move its head office from Perth to Brisbane, which it said would be a better fit given the location of its acreage.
Central pulled the trigger last month on a potential $150 million farm-out of up to 70% of 13 permit areas in the Amadeus and Pedirka basins in a deal with Santos.
Under the deal, Santos will fund exploration in the permit areas with an initial $30 million, with an option to fund another $60 million in stages two and three of exploration should it choose to do so.
Santos will assume operatorship of the permits, covering up to 80,000sq.km, but will not be able to touch Central's Surprise oil discovery in EP115.
The twin deals effectively mean that combined with the Santos deal, Central has secured about $350m worth of exploration funded over four years by major partners over 30% of the company's portfolio, while also retaining full control of 70% of the company's total acreage of 57.9 million acres, some 40.5 million acres.
The deal also adds further momentum to the broader Georgina Basin as an exploration hot spot, with Canadian player PetroFrontier and Norwegian giant Statoil announcing in June that the Norwegian energy giant would spend up to $US210 million ($A205.1 million) to earn a 65% interest in six PetroFrontier permits over half of the southern Georgina Basin.
