Austral Pacific Reports A7 Discovery Well Now Producing

Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. announce that the Cheal A7 well commenced production on Saturday, August 30, 2008.

Austral CEO and President Thompson Jewell said, “I am pleased to see the well on stream this quickly and performing as expected. The incremental production and revenue is a welcome sight.”

A7 has now been successfully tied into the Cheal Production Facility using a temporary connection. The well will be flowed through these temporary facilities for three months while the permanent installation is being planned.

As part of the planned production and testing procedures the well is being produced at 200 barrels of oil per day (bopd) with no water during the testing phase. There was no observed surface pressure decline measured during the first test period.

The initial testing indicates that the well is capable of a maximum flow rate in the range of 250-280 bopd. The optimum flow rate will be established over the coming weeks. The field’s current production rate is approximately 520 bopd.

Cheal A3X has been shut-in this week while the A7 well was brought into production as a result of a reoccurrence of the casing leak encountered earlier this year. A number of options are being reviewed for immediate remedial repair to return the A3X well to its 90 bopd rate while planning is underway to support a permanent repair towards the end of this year if required.

A number of short and medium term production enhancement projects are being investigated and implemented to further improve and maximize the value of the current Cheal field production. Two additional locations that could add both reserves and production have been prepared and further prospects on trend are being prioritized based on the results of the A6 and A7 drilling programme.

Cheal is a producing oil and gas field south of Stratford in onshore Taranaki, New Zealand. It is 69.5% owned by Austral, which is also field operator.

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 eight exploration and production permits totaling over 2.6 million acres in New Zealand. 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.