Austral Pacific Announces Intended Acquisition

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Oct. 11  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. (AMEX: AEN; TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX) ("Austral Pacific") announced today that it has signed a heads of agreement to acquire all the shares of Arrowhead Energy Limited ("Arrowhead"), a small, privately held, New Zealand oil and gas exploration and production company, for net NZ$17 million (US$11.0 million).

Arrowhead's principal assets include a 33% interest in the Cheal oil field (PMP 38156), a 33% interest in the surrounding exploration permit (PEP 38738-01) and a 25% interest in the Kahili mining permit (PMP 38153).

The agreement is subject to financing arrangements, due diligence and a definitive agreement.

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  Web site:  http://www.austral-pacific.com/
  Email:     
  Contact:   Rick Webber, CEO, [phone]



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. 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:  Rick Webber, CEO, Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., [phone],

or 



Web site:  http://www.austral-pacific.com/ 

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