Austral Pacific Completes Financing
March 02 2008 - 9:43PM
PR Newswire (US)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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
totaling 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 Web site:
http://www.austral-pacific.com/ Email: Phone: Thom Jewell, CEO +64
(4) 495 0880 or Brad Holmes: +1 (713) 304 6962 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 http://www.sedar.com/ and
http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm for further
information. DATASOURCE: Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. CONTACT: Thom
Jewell, CEO, +64 (4) 495 0880, or Brad Holmes, +1-713-304-6962,
both of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., Web site:
http://www.austral-pacific.com/
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