Centurion Operational Update

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - Oct. 9, 2006) -

El Wastani Facilities Upgrade

Centurion (TSX:CUX) (AIM:CUX.L) announced today the commissioning of Stage 1 of the El Wastani Facilities Upgrade project, which involved the installation of a Mechanical Refrigeration Unit to improve condensate recovery. Stage 2 of the Facilities Upgrade project, the LPG plant installation, is on schedule to be completed by the end of December 2006.

Once both project Stages are fully operational, Centurion will have the capability to recover an additional 3,600 barrels per day of liquids at the El Wastani Facilities. The additional liquids, coupled with production from new El Wastani and Gelgel development wells, will contribute towards increasing Centurion's production rate from the current level of 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to around 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by year end.

2006 Drilling Program

The Gelgel-13 well has been drilled to a total depth of 1730 meters and open hole logs have been run in the well. The logs indicate that the El Wastani and Kafr El Sheikh formations have a combined net gas pay of 22 meters and the well will now be completed and tied back to the South El Manzala field facilities for production. By analogy with offset wells, Gelgel-13 is expected to produce in excess of 800 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The South Gamasa-1 well has drilled through the primary reservoir target in the Qawasim formation which, according to open hole log data, is water-wet. Seven inch casing has been set at the base of the Qawasim and the well is currently drilling ahead in the secondary target, the Sidi Salim.

2007 Drilling Program

Centurion's planned 2007 drilling programme includes 10 exploration and appraisal wells and 2 development wells, all to be drilled on its Egyptian exploration and development leases.

The company remains confident in the resource potential in the onshore Nile Delta region and the majority of the wells will be drilled in the West Manzala and West Qantara exploration blocks, with wells planned to test shallow (Abu Madi and Qawasim) and deeper (Sidi Salim and potentially Oligocene) reservoir targets.

The Sidi Salim is relatively under-explored in the two blocks and recent seismic and geologic studies have indicated a significant potential in this formation, with the largest and lowest risk prospects lying on a trend to the south and east of the El Wastani field. A total of 12 prospects have been mapped to date and additional leads are being matured.

Two of the Sidi Salim prospects have already been drilled, albeit on the flank of the structures, by previous block Operators and both wells confirmed the presence of gas. One of the wells, Abu Naga-1, tested gas at a rate of 5.7 million cubic feet per day with 360 barrels per day of condensate and the other, Matariya-1, encountered 18 meters of high pressure gas pay, as confirmed by open and cased hole log data. The latter well was not flow tested since gas was not regarded as a commercial commodity when the well was drilled in 1976. Both prospects represent potential drilling targets for 2007.

The drilling programme also includes two wells to be drilled in the Eastern Desert frontier area Block 2 Ganope (Kom Ombo), the second of which is viewed as contingent on the results of the first.

For the purposes of AIM Rule 11, this announcement has been reviewed by Centurion Energy's Vice President - Engineering and Production, Robert C. Macaulay, B.Sc., a Petroleum Engineer of more than 20 years' standing, a member of the SPE and a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta.

Certain statements in this news release constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, there is no assurance in regard to actual future production rates and no assurance that our drilling program will result in increased reserves or production rates. Furthermore, future estimates of production can be affected by many events beyond the control of the Corporation, such as availability of equipment or personnel, the performance of contractors, declines in well performance or well performance failing to meet expectations, regulatory delays, weather delays, equipment failure or other problems encountered in drilling or completion of wells and the timing of completion of facilities. Seismic programs may also experience delays for some of the same reasons.

Statements related to "reserves" or "resources" are deemed to be Forward Looking Statements as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, that the resources and reserves described can be profitably produced in the future.

Barrel of oil equivalents disclosed in this news release may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A conversion ratio of 6 million cubic feet per 1 barrel of oil equivalent is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not necessarily represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.