David Newman, Chairman of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., announced that the Board had accepted the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer, Rick Webber, effective 30 April 2007. At the same time Mr Webber will resign his position as a director of the Company.

David Newman and his fellow director Peter Hill will jointly assume the duties of Chief Executive Officer and conduct a review of the organization to find the best suited, permanent, leadership structure.

Reflecting on events since Mr Webber took office at the beginning of 2006, Mr Newman noted that the Company has a new business strategy in place together with a firm work programme to execute and deliver that strategy in 2007 and beyond.

The re-commencement of production from the Cheal Oil Field using temporary facilities, the initiation of the full field development of Cheal, the acquisition of Arrowhead Energy Limited and the Douglas gas condensate discovery in PNG are all important milestones, but other significant opportunities, such as Cardiff and the Kahili Fields remain undeveloped.

These current and future projects are planned to grow shareholder value in the months and years ahead.