Austral Pacific Completes Financing

Austral Pacific Completes Financing

Wellington, New Zealand ? March 3, 2008-/PRNewswire/ - Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. (TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; AMEX: AEN)

Further to Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.'s news releases of December 19, 2007 and February 11, 2008 announcing a US$15million placement, the Company now confirms that it has received the final tranche of $3.9 million and completed the placement. The financing involves the sale of 12,500,000 common (ordinary) shares with attached warrants, sold as units at $1.20 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant. The warrants are exercisable one-for-one into the Company's common shares for 12 months after closing at an exercise price of $2.25.

A portion of the securities were placed in the United States to accredited investors in reliance on Rule 506 and are subject to resale restrictions in the United States under Rule 144 for a one year period but can be traded under Rule 904 through the TSX Venture Exchange after 4 months which is the basic hold period applicable to all the securities.

The majority of the proceeds from the private placement are being used to accelerate the Cheal field development with a goal of increasing the field reserve base and increasing production through the newly commissioned Cheal Production Station. The proceeds will also fund other appraisal and development projects in Taranaki, New Zealand, and will be used to progress the Cardiff field appraisal.

The Company used part of the proceeds to pay the additional cash component of the previously announced purchase of a further interest in its Cardiff permit, by the purchase of all the shares of International Resource Management Corporation Limited, whose principal asset is a 19.8% interest in the Cardiff gas project (PMP 38156).

Cardiff Testing

Commencement of testing operations on the Cardiff 2A ST-1 well was slightly delayed, but all equipment has now been mobilized to site and flow testing of the prospective K3E formation commenced on February 25. This test is an important component of the ongoing field appraisal and development activities.

Annual General Meeting Scheduled

More details on these projects and the Company?s strategies for growth will be discussed at the Company?s annual general and special meeting of shareholders on May 22, 2008 at noon, at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, 147 The Terrace in Wellington, New Zealand.

About Austral Pacific

Austral Pacific is a listed independent oil and gas exploration and production company registered in Canada with corporate headquarters in Wellington, New Zealand. The Company has an interest in thirteen exploration and production permits totalling over 2.6 million acres in onshore New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The Company's primary assets are the Cheal Field, Kahili Field and Cardiff Field located onshore in the highly prolific Taranaki Basin on the North Island of New Zealand. In Papua New Guinea, the Company has an interest in four onshore blocks.

Austral Pacific Energy (NZ) Limited
Phone: Thom Jewell, CEO +64 (4) 495 0880 or Brad Holmes: +1 (713) 304 6962

CONTACT: Investor Relations:
Tel: +1 561 837 8057 ext 2
Website: http://www.austral-pacific.com
Email: ir@austral-pacific.com

None of the Exchanges upon which Austral Pacific's securities trade have approved or disapproved the contents hereof. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable legislation. Other than statements of historical fact, all statements in this release addressing future production, reserve potential, exploration and development activities and other contingencies are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, due to factors such as market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market, political or business conditions. Please see our public filings at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm for further information.

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