Central Petroleum Limited

Our presentation today covers Central Petroleum's annual results for 2025. I'm Leon Devaney, CEO and Managing Director of Central Petroleum, and I am joined by our CFO, Damian Galvin. Throughout today's presentation, you are welcome to submit questions online, which we will address at the end. Please ensure you read the legal disclaimer that applies to this presentation. Last week, we released our 2025 annual report. Consistent with our quarterly reports, the company has achieved several key milestones that highlight strong operational and financial progress. A major success was the conclusion of a competitive gas marketing effort that resulted in a significant multi-year gas sales agreement that de-risks and strengthens the company's future cash flows. Operationally, two new production wells were drilled and brought online at Rainey, These wells were completed ahead of schedule, under budget, and delivered production rates well above initial expectations, demonstrating effective project execution and strong asset performance. On the financial front, the company restructured its debt with a revised amortization schedule extending to 2030, eliminating refinancing risk and increasing our financial flexibility. As a result of these achievements, the company has the capacity to undertake a share buyback program, marking its first shareholder return event since listing nearly 20 years ago. I'll now hand over to Damian to go through our annual results in more detail.

Thanks Leon. FY 2025 has certainly proven to be a pivotal year for the company and the results won't come as a surprise for those who've been following our quarterly results. Our bottom line statutory profit of $7.7 million is I think in many ways more satisfying than the $12.4 million profit we posted last year and that's because last year's profit included $13.8 million profit from selling our interest in the range coal seam gas permit in Queensland. So when you strip out those one-off profits, you get a much better feel for how the business has turned around. So the underlying profit is $6.5 million this year compared with an underlying loss of $1.4 million the year before. So that's a significant turnaround and more than two-thirds of that profit was recorded in the second half of this year as those new gas sale contracts came into effect. Now, the improvement in performance is evident across most of the metrics. You start with the revenues, $43.6 million. That's up 17% from last year, largely due to the increase in realised price, which was up 19% to $9.02 per gigajoule equivalent over the full year. And that flows through to the increased sales margins and the underlying EBITDAX which was up 43% at $19.6 million. So there's some other items in there. The result also benefits from lower corporate and admin costs and reduced exploration activity this year. Higher interest rates have kept finance costs relatively steady and we recognise a profit of $1.3 million on the sale of some surplus land near Alice Springs. An excellent result all round. Let's have a closer look at some of the main drivers. The catalyst for the transformation lies with the new gas contracting strategy that we implemented early last year. And the impact from that on revenues was twofold. Firstly, the new contracts resulted in more reliable volumes. In the first half of the year we had the benefit of those available contracts wholly within the Northern Territory. and they were mitigating the impact from the extended closure of the Northern Gas Pipeline. In the second half of the year, we had new contracts that also provided reliable offtake within the Northern Territory when we couldn't deliver gas to our customers due to pipeline closures. Secondly, those new contracts which replaced the legacy contracts from 1 January this year, they're at higher prices. And the chart on the right shows the 27% jump in the second half average prices. And that flows through to the bottom line in cash flows. I'll come back to margins shortly. Now, the 17% increase in revenues was also boosted by record demand for gas from the dingo field. and the two new marini wells which were on line from quarter three providing much needed additional volume. In terms of other revenue, we also recognised $1.3 million from the release of take or pay proceeds and were able to pass through some of the increased Northern Territory regulatory costs to some customers and we covered $600,000. Coming back to volumes, the two new Marini wells were successfully drilled and commissioned. They were ahead of schedule, they were under budget and they'd outperformed the pre-drill expectations. So it was a great result and we're very happy with the outcome from those wells. Oil production at Marini was also high, it was up 14% and that was largely as a result of the flare gas compressor that we commissioned and installed late in the previous financial year. However, the oil offtake was partially constrained in the fourth quarter and that did have a knock-on effect on gas production. We've implemented some solutions recently so that volume shouldn't be affected going forward. We do continue to see some seasonal demand fluctuations, particularly when the NGP is closed. You can see on the chart the lower volumes experienced in late winter, early spring, both last year, which is on the far left of the chart, and also in the current quarter, which is on the far right. The difference this year is that we've protected our cash flows through take or pay arrangements in our recent gas supply agreements. So while we're expecting the September quarter gas volumes to be about 8% lower than the June quarter, cash flows will be less affected. The higher prices have flowed through to margins. So if you exclude depreciation, our gross margins increased by 26%. They're up from $3.65 per gigajoule equivalent last year up to $4.60 this year. Our cost of sales, they rose about 6% on a per-unit basis, and some of that's due to the higher cost of our return to over-lift gas. The cost is linked to the sales price, so it's naturally higher. The improved margin that we saw was really just from six months of improved contract pricing, so we could expect a further improvement for the full year to June next year, and that's also going to benefit further once the over-lifted gas is all returned in May next year. Our focus on cost control continues though and we do pride ourselves on being a low cost operator. For example, the chart on the bottom left shows the progress that we've made in reducing our net corporate and administration costs. They're down 39% from last year and 60% lower over the last two years. The improved financial performance and cash flows has us in a much stronger financial position than previously. Cash at June 30 was $27.5 million and net cash, that is cash less debt, was $3.9 million. That's our highest in over a decade. Our loan facility is in good shape. It's locked in until 2030. We don't have any mandatory principal repayments until March 2027, but we do have the ability to make earlier repayments if we choose to do so. So this Stronger Balance Sheet has enabled us to commence our first program of shareholder returns through an on-market share buyback. We could buy back up to 10% of issued capital over the next 12 months and this would cost a relatively modest $4 million at current prices or $2 million if we only bought back 5%. Now we've appointed Morgans to manage this process for us, although it should be noted that the total number of shares ultimately bought back over the 12-month period may be significantly less than the 10% cap and our trading activity will be dependent on considering various factors including, for example, the prevailing share price, market liquidity, regulatory requirements and trading constraints under the ASX listing rules, maturity of potential commercial transactions that could be material to the share price and other capital allocation opportunities including growth opportunities and debt repayment. So although we haven't yet been able to start buying on market, consistent with that buyback strategy to reduce issued capital at the current market prices, we've cash settled some of the vested equity incentives which would otherwise have converted to shares this month and that's about 8 million shares that we've effectively taken off the market already. Now another achievement that might have gone unnoticed in the annual report was the reserves upgrade. and that arose from the outperformance of those two new marini wells and also the continuing ongoing consistent performance of the dingo field. So the upgrade of Proved and Probable as 2P gas and oil reserves means we effectively replaced 96% of our FY 2025 production. And so that's an indication of the ongoing reliability and producibility of these unartispaced fields. Look, in summary, it's a satisfying result across the board. It's got us in a strong financial position. So with that, let's let FY 2025 fade away into the rearview mirror and I'll hand you back to Leon.

Thanks, Damien. While we were pleased with last year's performance, our focus remains on maintaining momentum and enhancing shareholder value, including improving the share price. With a cash balance exceeding $25 million and a strong portfolio of firm gas contracts, we are well positioned to pursue both growth and shareholder returns. In addition to the share buyback program, we are evaluating more substantial forms of shareholder returns, such as sustainable dividends, as part of a broader capital allocation strategy that balances near-term value with long-term growth. Our existing producing assets continue to be a vital avenue for increasing shareholder value with opportunities to rapidly boost production through the drilling of new wells. We have made significant progress in planning and securing approvals for future drilling programs at Palm Valley and Marini. These investments are obviously dependent on obtaining long-term gas contracts at acceptable margins, so we will persist in actively marketing these volumes to potential customers. Additionally, we are advancing efforts to restart exploration in our sub-salt permits, with the initial activity likely to be an appraisal well at Mt. Tiddy, a discovery with high helium and hydrogen potential. Concurrently, we are progressing farm-out discussions for conventional exploration in the western Amadeus Basin, focusing on EP-115, which is on trend with our existing producing fields at Marini and Palm Valley. Beyond our current portfolio, We remain open to lower risk, high impact growth opportunities that align with our core strengths and support reserve expansion and revenue diversification. In conclusion, we are confident in our ability to sustain the momentum generated over the past year well into the future. We have significant opportunities for capital allocation, including further returns to shareholders And as mentioned earlier, we are diligently working to deliver some of these growth opportunities over the coming months. I want to assure our shareholders that as we pursue growth, we will remain disciplined, ensuring that any transaction adds value and effectively leverages the strong financial foundations we have built. That's the end of the formal presentation, so we can now move on to questions and answers.

Great, thanks, Leon. So we do have a few questions here this morning, so let's go straight into them. I guess the one we often come across, probably a statement more than a question, shares which pay dividends viewed favourably by investors, obviously. And I think, as Leon mentioned in his list of capital allocations, it's one of the One of the options that's been very seriously considered at this time, but it is being considered in conjunction with those other alternative uses for capital. So certainly we're keen to get to a dividend as soon as we can, and it's certainly under consideration.

Yeah, just to add to that, I think slides 9 and 10 list some of those capital allocation options that we are working through. We'd like to see how those play through. cash flows we have, dividends or on the radar and something we understand would be obviously well received by shareholders and certainly could have an opportunity to re-rate the stock. So something we're very carefully considering at this point.

Okay.

Question about our helium prospects. When will exploration resume?

Great question. We are very focused on getting that kicked off. Obviously, it's been stalled for a long time. There's some complexity with the joint venture and our operator in terms of getting that program going. We think we have a strategy and a plan in place to kickstart that and get it going again in the near term. If we're Timing would be a Mount Kitty well by mid-2027. That's what we'd be shooting for. Again, there's quite a bit of work we need to do to put that in place and make that happen, but that is a focus, and we have been working very hard in the background to get that going and get a well drilled there. We think it's an exciting prospect, a significant upside for the company, so we're quite keen.

Could you clarify what the expected boost in cash flow might be once gas over lift is all returned? So gas over lift, that should all be returned by May next year, so we're not getting close now. I think we're returning at about two terajoules a day, so if you Get your calculator out and I know it's $9 or $10 gas price. I think we're up around in excess of $6 million a year in extra revenue. So we're certainly looking forward to that. Boosh is coming in June next year. In terms of other questions, what else have we got? Can you please give us an indication on timing of drilling new Palm Valley wells?

We're, as I mentioned, we're obviously progressing planning and approvals. We're doing a lot of the long lead stuff in terms of getting prepped and ready for a drill ready positioning for that field. We see a lot of value in being able to quickly bring new production from Palm Valley into the market. And with the production we've seen in the prior wells that we've drilled there, it is a very compelling case for us to invest and increase production and sell that gas. So one of the top priorities we do have is getting that drilling approved, prepared, and fit for it. Now, the critical piece of that puzzle, obviously, is, state of change. That change is still continuing, both with production from the black tip field, but also appraisal activity at the Beetle Loop. Notwithstanding that, we are in active discussions with potential customers, and we are trying very hard to put in place a gas supply agreement for the additional have that contract in place and underwrite those volumes. We'll be looking to drill those wells very quickly. That's certainly our intent at Central. Obviously, it needs shareholder or joint venture approval.

Okay. There was a question here. What is the situation with joint ventures? I'm not sure whether anything is our production joint ventures or our exploration ones, but is there any sort of clarity around that?

I think we're all assembly-minded at the moment, aren't we? Yeah, I think we've got great alignment with the joint ventures that we are working with across our fields. They're like-minded with us. They're looking to extract value from the operating assets production and sell that into a market that we see is desperately needing firm gas supply. So we've got great alignment. They're contributing significantly to our efforts in the fields. So we couldn't be happier. We're quite pleased with the joint venture arrangements we do have. Obviously, in the subsalt space, the joint venture has been more challenging in terms of progressing appraisal activity. That's something that we've been working very hard on. We do have a good working relationship with Santos, who is operator, and we think we're making progress on that front, as I've mentioned earlier. So hopefully we'll have some good news coming in relation to that joint venture over the coming months as well.

Okay. Could you elaborate on why dingo production performs so strongly? Is there a possibility that further wells and contracting gas could be on the cards?

Yeah, it's really a market issue demands in the Alice Springs area. That demand has increased and their requirements for gas has increased. the demand that they require from the Dingo field. Having said that, we do have a very strong take or pay position at Dingo. And you would see take or pay payments being made at the beginning of each calendar year that reflect any volumes that they haven't taken on their contracts. So from our perspective, the cash flows from Dingo are very steady and reliable. And we're looking forward to continuing to meet the contract. And if there are opportunities to grow that field or expand that field and add more volume into that are a win-win for both parties.

Okay. Can you run us through longer-term contracts market, that is, 2028 onwards, any changes there?

No, as I've mentioned quite a few times in previous webinars, the longer-term gas market is probably where there's considerable uncertainty, particularly, as I mentioned, with respect or appears to be in decline. And we've also got the VLU, which is undertaking appraisal. We don't know what the results of those appraisal tasks really are at this point. I think a lot more information is going to be coming out over the next six months. It is an uncertain market when you start moving out to 2028. Our focus has been ensuring that certainly in 2026, 2027, have contracts extending out through to 2030, which does help, but we do have additional volumes that we are trying to contract from 2028 and beyond. Those are the air purer contract volumes that we backed out of earlier this year. There is interest. It is a bit early. It's a couple years away, so it is a bit early in terms of contracting those volumes with counterparties. We are also talking to projects in the NT that might require that gas or certainly are interested in that gas, including Aerofuro as a potential customer going forward. So it is a very active part of our marketing effort and strategy, but it is something that will obviously

Thanks, Will. But probably also there was a question here around how the B2B base is looking and progressing, so I think you probably covered that off.

Yeah, I didn't spend a lot of time on this particular webinar going into the market. There's not a lot to update. We did a webinar last month, I think it was. There hasn't been a whole lot of information in terms of flow rates coming out of EVs the black tip production, similar to what we experienced last month in terms of turndown from nominations due to reduced demand in the NT. It's very hard to understand black tips production at a field level, given some of that could be a result of the turndown as well. So really, at this point, there's not a lot of additional information to be able to get more visibility. I think we'll need to continue to watch this space. And as I said, over the next six months, I think we'll start getting some more information and then we'll see how it all plays out.

Okay. A question here around hydrogen. Are the JVs looking at directing any hydrogen finds into ammonia production?

Well, obviously, we've got to find hydrogen and we're very familiar with being able to commercialize that. We think that's going to form an important part of the business case for those prospects. But our first step is to get these appraisal wells in, particularly Mount Kitty, demonstrate we can have a commercial flow rate. And once we understand what that looks like, So, you know, it's certainly an area that we see as a potential revenue stream for the company going forward. But we have a period of time before we're actually in a position to say how or with any certainty what that will look like or how it will be developed.

So I think there was a couple there just around share price and where we're at. I think one of them was why is Comtex Morningstar valuing from coming at six cents? I guess the short answer to that is they probably just run some AI bot on it that's taken the current share price. I would point you towards the analysis on our website from I think they landed 20 cents, which brings us to another question. I can't understand why the CCP share price has not progressed well north of 20 cents per share in the last five years or so. I realise all CSG producers are in a similar position, but would have thought with your gas sale contracts and producing field, it would be a little different.

Yeah, I'd go back to really what has been the theme, I think, of this presentation. We've got a great... 2025, our plan and our focus is to certainly one of the key objectives that we're quite focused on is to get the share price up. The ways we're going to do it, we've talked about in this presentation, that's to continue the momentum we've had in 2025, continue to deliver safe, strong performance at our operating fields, generate the kind of financial outcomes that we've seen in 2025 and hopefully improve on those, continue to strengthen our balance sheet. And obviously, with the GBA coming off in a few months, that will provide a fairly significant kickstart to that as well. And then look at capital allocation options, including shareholder returns. There's opportunities there. sustainable dividends, for example, that could be a good catalyst for the share price. But we have a number of growth opportunities as well that we're looking at. We're very active in discussions with a broad range of things that we think are material and could be quite beneficial for the company and could have an impact on the share price going forward if we're able to complete those and get those across the line. So really we're working quite hard on a basket of things and Our focus is on creating shareholder value,

around the share price and it probably reflected in our decision to allocate some capital towards share buyback of these prices is a good use of capital.

So something we're working on across the board.

Okay, a couple of other more questions here. One about the company Omega Oil and Gas in the Surrey Basin. Any comment on this development?

Obviously they've had some fantastic success. capital raised. I think what it does show is that despite the challenges in our sector, there's great opportunity for significant growth, significant value enhancement in smaller companies. We're able to succeed on the valuation of companies. So I think success will be rewarded in this market, and that's one of the key things that we're looking to do at Central, whether it's through creating some visible, tangible benefits to shareholders through shareholder returns to demonstrate the success we've been having with the operating assets that we do have in place, improving on those operating assets, or in the growth of us, picking and finding the right ones, being smart about it, being smart about how we structure it, how we approach it, finding success, and essentially following a similar path where I think Central certainly has the opportunity to go and have a substantial increase in share pricing for successful.

Question here. Could we see the FY26 result being boosted by that gas over lift coming off? That is like FY25 being skewed towards a much better second half from the new gas contracts. I think the answer to that is probably won't see a big boost in FY26 because That gas balancing agreement ends, or we expect all that gas to be returned by about May. So there's really only probably one month of upside that I'd expect to see on cash flow. So probably not fair for FY26.

We have been paying off diligently over the past years and we're looking forward to that being lifted and it will have a big impact as we move forward into fiscal year 2027. Okay.

In light of the Omega Gas comments, would Central bid on new Queensland acreage if it made strategic sense?

Yeah, we are open to opportunities that we think are lower risk, high impact. We're not restricted to opportunities just in the NT. Obviously, that's where we have a core skill set and our existing footprint. But we are casting a wider net and looking at opportunities up and down the East Coast and are in discussions for those. Obviously, there's a lot of opportunity in the market. gas market transitions or other events. We've been very disciplined in terms of filtering through those. There's no shortage of opportunities to throw money at, and we're in a great position with our cash balance and cash flow to have that kind of money. So obviously we're of interest to parties that are trying to farm out or divest. But we do have a very, I think, clear understanding of what we think will add value to the company, what fits this company, and where we can create value and what is in the best interest of shareholders. So we are very selective in what we look at and what we engage in in terms of further investigation. But there are opportunities out there, and it could be in Queensland, it could be South Australia, it could be anywhere on the East Coast, and it could be farther afield than that potentially, but our bread and butter obviously is at this point onshore, and the East Coast is a familiar market to us. But having said that, we are open to look at what we've done with the range project. We didn't put any capital into it. We had a $12 million profit from that. So that turned out actually quite positive for the company. It didn't go as quickly. We were hoping to get into development, but that was a positive investment for us. The peak deal, obviously, that fell over. That was unfortunate, but it was really a So, you know, we've certainly got to make sure going forward that the deals that we do enter into, we cover off and really make sure that the credit risk and the ability of the counterparties is there to perform as we expect when we go into a joint venture or a farming opportunity.

Well, I think that's all the questions for today, Michael.

Great. Fairly happy. Sounds good. Well, I appreciate everyone's attention and look forward to updating all of you as we go forward through the end of this year. I think it's going to be very exciting next few months, and we're Good morning. Our presentation today covers Central Petroleum's annual results for 2025. I'm Leon Devaney, CEO and Managing Director of Central Petroleum, and I am joined by our CFO, Damian Galvin. Throughout today's presentation, you are welcome to submit questions online, which we will address at the end. Please ensure you read the legal disclaimer that applies to this presentation. Last week, we released our 2025 annual report. Consistent with our quarterly reports, the company has achieved several key milestones that highlight strong operational and financial progress. A major success was the conclusion of a competitive gas marketing effort that resulted in a significant multiyear gas sales agreement that de-risks and strengthens the company's future cash flows. Operationally, Two new production wells were drilled and brought online at Marini. These wells were completed ahead of schedule, under budget, and delivered production rates well above initial expectations, demonstrating effective project execution and strong asset performance. On the financial front, the company restructured its debt with a revised amortization schedule extending to 2030, eliminating refinancing risk and increasing our financial flexibility. As a result of these achievements, the company has the capacity to undertake a share buyback program, marking its first shareholder return event since listing nearly 20 years ago. I'll now hand over to Damien to go through our annual results in more detail. Thank you.

Thanks Leon. FY 2025 has certainly proven to be a pivotal year for the company and the results won't come as a surprise for those who've been following our quarterly results. Our bottom line statutory profit of $7.7 million is I think in many ways more satisfying than the $12.4 million profit we posted last year and that's because last year's profit included $13.8 million profit from selling our interest in the range coal seam gas permit in Queensland. So when you strip out those one-off profits, you get a much better feel for how the business has turned around. So the underlying profit is $6.5 million this year compared with an underlying loss of $1.4 million in the year before. So that's a significant turnaround and more than two-thirds of that profit was recorded in the second half of this year as those new gas sale contracts came into effect. Now, the improvement in performance, it's evident across most of the metrics. You start with the revenues, $43.6 million. That's up 17% from last year. Lastly, due to the increase in realised price, which was up 19% to $9.02 per gigajoule equivalent over the full year. And that flows through to the increased sales margins and the underlying EBITDAX, which was up 43% at $19.6 million. So some other items in there. The result also benefits from lower corporate and admin costs and reduced exploration activity this year. Higher interest rates have kept finance costs relatively steady. And we recognised a profit of $1.3 million on the sale of some surplus land near Alice Springs. So an excellent result all round. Let's have a closer look at some of the main drivers. The catalyst for the transformation lies with the new gas contracting strategy that we implemented early last year. And the impact from that on revenues was twofold. So firstly, the new contracts resulted in more reliable volumes. In the first half of the year we had the benefit of as available contracts wholly within the Northern Territory and they were mitigating the impact from the extended closure of the Northern Gas Pipeline. In the second half of the year we had new contracts that also provided reliable offtake within the Northern Territory when we couldn't deliver gas to our customers due to pipeline closures. Secondly, those new contracts which replaced the legacy contracts from 1 January this year, they're at higher prices and the chart on the right shows the 27% jump in the second half average prices. And that flows through the bottom line in cash flows. I'll come back to margins shortly. Now the 17% increase in revenues was also boosted by record demand for gas from the dingo field. and the two new marini wells which were online from quarter three providing much needed additional volume. In terms of other revenue, we also recognised $1.3 million from the release of take or pay proceeds and were able to pass through some of the increased Northern Territory regulatory costs to some customers and we covered $600,000. Coming back to volumes, the two new Marini wells were successfully drilled and commissioned. They're ahead of schedule, they're under budget and they've outperformed the pre-drill expectations. So it was a great result and we're very happy with the outcome from those wells. Oil production at Marini was also high, it was up 14% and that was largely as a result of the flare gas compressor that we commissioned and installed late in the previous financial year. However, the oil offtake was partially constrained in the fourth quarter, and that did have a knock-on effect on gas production. And we've implemented some solutions recently so that volume shouldn't be affected going forward. We do continue to see some seasonal demand fluctuations, particularly when the NGP is closed. And you can see on the chart the lower volumes experienced in late winter, early spring, both last year, which is on the far left of the chart, and also in the current quarter, which is on the far right. The difference this year is that we've protected our cash flows through take or pay arrangements in our recent gas supply agreements. So while we're expecting the September quarter gas volumes to be about 8% lower than the June quarter, cash flows will be less affected. The higher prices have flowed through to margins. So if you exclude depreciation, our gross margins increased by 26%. They're up from $3.65 per gigajoule equivalent last year up to $4.60 this year. Our cost of sales, they rose about 6% on a per-unit basis, and some of that's due to the higher cost of our returned over-lift gas, and the cost is linked to the sales price, so it's naturally higher. The improved margin that we saw was really just from six months of improved contract pricing, so we could expect a further improvement for the full year to June next year, and that's also going to benefit further once the over-lifted gas is all returned in May next year. Our focus on cost control continues, though, and we do pride ourselves on being a low-cost operator. For example, the chart on the bottom left shows the progress that we've made in reducing our net corporate and administration costs. They're down 39% from last year and 60% lower over the last two years. The improved financial performance and cash flows has us in a much stronger financial position than previously. Cash at June 30 was $27.5 million and net cash, that is cash less debt, was $3.9 million. That's our highest in over a decade. Our loan facility is in good shape. It's locked in until 2030. We don't have any mandatory principal repayments until March 2027, but we do have the ability to make earlier repayments if we choose to do so. This stronger balance sheet has enabled us to commence our first program of shareholder returns through an on-market share buyback. We could buy back up to 10% of issued capital over the next 12 months and this would cost a relatively modest $4 million at current prices or $2 million if we only bought back 5%. Now we've appointed Morgans to manage this process for us, although it should be noted that the total number of shares ultimately bought back over the 12-month period may be significantly less than the 10% cap. And our trading activity will be dependent on considering various factors, including, for example, the prevailing share price, market liquidity, regulatory requirements and trading constraints under the ASX listing rules, maturity of potential commercial transactions that could be material to the share price, and other capital allocation opportunities, including growth opportunities and debt repayment. So although we haven't yet been able to start buying on market, consistent with that buyback strategy to reduce issued capital at the current market prices, we've cash settled some of the vested equity incentives which would otherwise have converted to shares this month and that's about 8 million shares that we've effectively taken off the market already. Now another achievement that might have gone unnoticed in the annual report was the reserves upgrade. And that arose from the outperformance of those two new marini wells and also the continuing ongoing consistent performance of the dingo field. So the upgrade of proven probable as 2P gas and oil reserves means we effectively replaced 96% of our FY 2025 production. And so that's an indication of the ongoing reliability and producibility of these unartispaced fields. Look, in summary, it's a satisfying result across the board. It's got us in a strong financial position. So with that, let's let FY 2025 fade away into the rear view mirror and I'll hand you back to Leon.

Thanks, Damien. While we were pleased with last year's performance, our focus remains on maintaining momentum and enhancing shareholder value, including improving the share price. With a cash balance exceeding $25 million and a strong portfolio of firm gas contracts, we are well positioned to pursue both growth and shareholder returns. In addition to the share buyback program, we are evaluating more substantial forms of shareholder returns, such as sustainable dividends, as part of a broader capital allocation strategy that balances near-term value with long-term growth. Our existing producing assets continue to be a vital avenue for increasing shareholder value with opportunities to rapidly boost production through the drilling of new wells. We have made significant progress in planning and securing approvals for future drilling programs at Palm Valley and Marini. These investments are obviously dependent on obtaining long-term gas contracts at acceptable margins, so we will persist in actively marketing these volumes to potential customers. Additionally, we are advancing efforts to restart exploration in our sub-salt permits, with the initial activity likely to be an appraisal well at Mt. Kitty, a discovery with high helium and hydrogen potential. Concurrently, we are progressing farm-out discussions for conventional exploration in the western Amadeus Basin, focusing on EP-115, which is on trend with our existing producing fields at Marini and Palm Valley. Beyond our current portfolio, we remain open to lower risk, high impact growth opportunities that align with our core strengths and support reserve expansion and revenue diversification. In conclusion, we are confident in our ability to sustain the momentum generated over the past year well into the future. We have significant opportunities for capital allocation, including further returns to shareholders And as mentioned earlier, we are diligently working to deliver some of these growth opportunities over the coming months. I want to assure our shareholders that as we pursue growth, we will remain disciplined, ensuring that any transaction adds value and effectively leverages the strong financial foundations we have built. That's the end of the formal presentation, so we can now move on to questions and answers.

So we do have a few questions here this morning, so let's go straight into them. I guess there's the one we often come across, probably a statement more than a question, shares which pay dividends viewed favourably by investors, obviously, and I think as Leon mentioned in his list of capital allocations, it's one of the options that's been very seriously considered at this time, but it is being considered in conjunction with those other alternative uses for capital. So certainly we're keen to get to a dividend as soon as we can, and it's certainly under consideration.

Yeah, just to add to that, I think slides 9 and 10 list some of those capital allocation options that we are working through. We'd like to see how those play through dividends or on the radar and something we understand would be obviously well received by shareholders and certainly could have an opportunity to re-rate the stock. So something we're very carefully considering at this point.

Question about our helium prospects.

When will exploration resume? Great question. We are very focused on getting that kicked off. Obviously, it's been stalled for a long time. There's some complexity with the joint venture and our operator in terms of getting that program going. We think we have a strategy and a plan in place to kickstart that and get it going again in the near Priming would be a Mount Kitty well by mid-2027. That's what we'd be shooting for. Again, there's quite a bit of work we need to do to put that in place and make that happen, but that is a focus, and we have been working very hard in the background to get that going and get a well drilled there. We think it's an exciting prospect, a significant upside for the company, so we're quite keen.

Could you clarify what the expected boost in cash flow might be once gas over lift is all returned? So gas over lift, that should all be returned by May next year, so we're not getting close now. I think we're returning at about two terajoules a day. Get your calculator out and they use $9 or $10 gas price. I think we're up around in excess of $6 million a year in extra revenue. So we're certainly looking forward to that. Blue's coming in June next year.

In terms of other questions, what else have we got?

Can you please give us an indication on timing of drilling new Palm Valley wells?

We're, as I mentioned, we're obviously progressing positioning for that field. We see a lot of value in being able to quickly bring new production from Palm Valley into the market. As a 50% interest holder in Palm Valley, and with the production we've seen in the prior wells that we've drilled there, it is a very compelling case for us to invest and increase production and sell that gas. So, is getting that drilling approved, prepared, and fit for it. Now, the critical piece of that puzzle obviously is ensuring that we do have a market for it. The market, as I've mentioned consistently over the past couple of years, has been in a state of change. activity at the Beetle Loop. Notwithstanding that, we are in active discussions with potential customers, and we are trying very hard to put in place a gas supply agreement for the additional volumes from Palm Valley at acceptable margins that we think are in the best interest of shareholders. And once we're in a position to have that contract are in Central. Obviously, it needs shareholder or joint venture approval with our joint venture partners at Palm Valley.

Okay. There was a question here. What is the situation with joint ventures? I'm not sure whether that means our production joint ventures or our exploration ones, but is there any sort of clarity around that?

I think we're all family-minded at the moment, aren't we?

Yeah, I think we've got great alignment with the joint ventures that we are working with across our fields. They're like-minded with us. They're looking to extract value from the operating assets. They're looking for ways to grow and increase production and sell that into a market that we see is desperately needing from gas supply. So we've got great alignment there. contributing significantly to our efforts in the fields. So we couldn't be happier. We're quite pleased with the joint venture arrangements we do have. Obviously, in the sub-salt space, the joint venture has been more challenging in terms of progressing So hopefully we'll have some big news coming in relation to that joint venture over the coming months as well. Okay.

Could you elaborate on why dingo production performs so strongly? Is there a possibility that further wells and contracting gas could be on the cards?

Yeah, it's really a market issue. the Alice Springs area, that demand has increased and their requirements for gas has increased. There are alternative supplies they do have, and so depending on how they adjust their portfolio, that will drive the demand that they require from the dingo field. Having said that, we do have a very strong take or pay position at dingo, and you would see being made at the beginning of each calendar year that reflect any volumes that they haven't taken on their contracts. So from our perspective, the cash flows from Dingo are very steady and reliable, and we're looking forward to continuing to meet the contract. And if there are opportunities to grow that field or expand that field and add more volume

Okay. Can you run us through longer-term contracts market, that is 2028 onwards, any changes there?

No, as I've mentioned quite a few times in previous webinars, the longer-term gas market is probably where there's considerable uncertainty, particularly, as I mentioned, with respect to appears to be in decline. And we've also got the VLU, which is undertaking appraisal. We don't know what the results of those appraisal tasks really are at this point. I think a lot more information is going to be coming out over the next six months. It is an uncertain market when you start moving out to 2028. Our focus has been ensuring that certainly in 2026, 2027, contract volumes that we backed out of earlier this year. There is interest. It is a bit early. It's a couple years away, so it is a bit early in terms of contracting those volumes with counterparties. We are also talking to projects in the NT that might require that gas or certainly going forward. So it is a very active part of our marketing effort and strategy, but it is something that will obviously take time. We'll lock those in when we think that the time is appropriate and we think contracting gas at that point in time is in the best interest of shareholders.

Okay, thanks, Will. But probably also there was a question here around was looking and progressing, so I think you probably covered that also.

Yeah, I didn't spend a lot of time on this particular webinar going into the market. There's not a lot to update. We did a webinar, what, last month, I think it was. There hasn't been a whole lot of information in terms of flow rates coming out of either of the appraisal programs happening at the Beetaloo and the Black Tip production. similar to what we experienced last month in terms of turndown from nominations due to reduced demand in the NT. It's very hard to understand black tips production at a field level, given some of that could be a result of the turndown as well. So really, at this point, there's not a lot of additional information to be able to get more visibility. I think we'll need to continue to out.

Okay. A question here around hydrogen. Are the JVs looking at directing any hydrogen finds into ammonia production?

Well, obviously, we've got to find hydrogen and be able to demonstrate we can produce it at commercial rates. I think that is the focus. That's certainly the focus of our subsalt exploration activity, hydrogen and helium. Obviously, we have hydrocarbons and we're very familiar with being able to commercialize that. We think that's going to form an important part of the business case for those prospects. But our first step is to get these appraisal wells in, particularly Mount Kitty, demonstrate we can have a commercial flow rate. And once we understand what that looks like and understand with more granularity the gas So, you know, it's certainly an area that we see as a potential revenue stream for the company going forward. But we have a period of time before we're actually in a position to say how or with any certainty what that will look like or how it will be developed.

So I think there was a couple there just around share price and where we're at. I think one of them was why is Comtex Morningstar valuing the company at $0.06? I guess the short answer to that is they probably just run some AI bot on it that's taken the current share price. I would point you towards the analysis on our website for paper there. I think they landed 20 cents, which brings us to another question. I can't understand why the CTP share price has not progressed well north of 20 cents per share in the last five years or so. I realise all CSG producers are in a similar position, but would have thought with your gas sale contracts and producing field, it would be a little different.

Yeah, I'd go back to really what has been the theme, I think, of this presentation. We've got a great 2025, our plan and our focus is to certainly one of the key objectives that we're quite focused on is to get the share price up. The ways we're going to do it, we've talked about in this presentation, that's to continue the momentum we've had in 2025, continue to deliver safe, strong performance at our operating fields, generate the kind of financial outcomes that we've seen in 2025 and hopefully improve on those, continue to strengthen our balance sheet. And obviously with the GBA coming off in a few months, that will provide a fairly significant kickstart to that as well. And then look at capital allocation options, including shareholder returns. There's opportunities there for us to demonstrate and actually in a concrete way return more significantly capital to shareholders through sustainable dividends, for example. That could be a good catalyst for the share price. But we have a number of growth opportunities as well that we're looking at, and we're very active in discussions with a broad range of things. and get those across the line. So really we're working quite hard on a basket of things, and our focus is on creating shareholders

share price and it probably reflected in our decision to allocate some capital towards share buyback of these prices is a good use of capital.

So something we're working on across the board.

Okay, a couple of more questions here. One about, what about the company Omega Oil and Gas in Australia Basin? Any comment on this development?

Obviously they've had some fantastic success. I think what it does show is that despite the challenges in our sector, there's great opportunity for significant growth, significant value enhancement in smaller companies. We're able to successfully. on the valuation of companies. So I think success will be rewarded in this market, and that's one of the key things that we're looking to do at Central, whether it's through creating some visible, tangible benefits to shareholders through shareholder returns, picking and finding the right ones, being smart about it, being smart about how we structure it, how we approach it, finding success and essentially following a similar path where I think Central certainly has the opportunity to go and have a substantial increase in share pricing for successful.

Great. Question here, quick Could we see the FY26 result being boosted by that gas over lift coming off? That is like FY25 being skewed towards a much better second half from the new gas contracts. I think by the answer to that you probably won't see a big boost in FY26 because that gas balancing agreement is what we expect all that gas to be returned. by about May. So it's really only probably one month of upside. I'd expect to see so on cash flow. So probably not fair for FY26.

Not substantially, but certainly as we look forward to future financial type of thing. So it's a substantial number for the company. It's something that we have been paying off diligently over the past years and we're looking forward to that being lifted and it will have a big impact as we move forward into fiscal year 2027. Okay.

In light of the Omega gas comments, would Central bid on new Queensland acreage if it made strategic sense?

Yeah, we are open to opportunities that we think are lower risk, high impact. We're not restricted to opportunities just in the NT. Obviously, that's where we have, of course, skill set and our existing footprint. But we are casting a wider net and looking at opportunities up lot of opportunity in the market, particularly where you have transitions, whether it's gas market transitions or other events. We've been very disciplined in terms of filtering through those. There's no shortage of opportunities to throw money at, and we're in a great position with our cash balance and cash flow to have that kind of money. So, obviously, divest, but we do have a very, I think, clear understanding of what we think will add value to the company, what fits this company, and where we can create value and what is in the best interest of shareholders. So we are very selective in what we look at and what we engage in in terms of further investigation. But there are opportunities out there and it could be in Queensland, could be South Australia, could be anywhere on the East Coast. And it could be farther afield than that potentially. But our bread and butter obviously is at this point on shore and the East Coast is a familiar market to us. But having said that, we are we are open to. If you look at what we've done with the range project, we didn't put any capital into it. We had a $12 million profit from that. So that turned out actually quite positive for the company. It didn't go as quickly. We were hoping to get into development, but that was a positive investment for us. You know, we've certainly got to make sure going forward that the deals that we do enter into, we cover off and really make sure that the credit risk and the ability of the counterparties is there to perform as we expect when we go into a joint venture or a farming opportunity.

Okay.

Well, I think that's all the questions for today, Liam. Great. Fairly happy. Sounds good. Well, I appreciate everyone's attention and look forward to updating all of you as we go forward through the end of this year. I think it's going to be very exciting next few months.