Austral Pacific Arranges US$15m Financing

About this update from Apex Resources Inc.

[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nWELLINGTON, New Zealand, Dec. 18 /CNW/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.\n(TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; Amex: AEN) has signed agreements with a number of\naccredited investors to privately place 12,500,000 common (ordinary) shares\nwith attached warrants, sold as units at $1.20 per unit. Each unit consists of\none common share and one share purchase warrant. The warrants are convertible\none-for-one into the Company's common shares for 12 months after closing at an\nexercise price of $2.25.\n\n\nProceeds from the private placement will be used primarily in connection\nwith accelerating the Cheal field development with a goal of increasing the\nfield reserve base and increasing production through the newly commissioned\nCheal Production Station. The proceeds will also fund other appraisal and\ndevelopment projects in Taranaki, New Zealand and PNG and will be used to both\nprogress the Cardiff field appraisal and to complete the cash portion of the\npreviously announced purchase of a further 19% interest in Cardiff.\n\n\nThe placement is subject to stock exchange approvals expected in the\nordinary course. A portion of the securities were placed in the United States\nto accredited investors in reliance on Rule 506 and are subject to resale\nrestrictions in the United States under Rule 144 for a one year period but can\nbe traded under Rule 904 through the TSX Venture Exchange after 4 months which\nis the basic hold period applicable to all the securities.\n\n\nManagement Comments\n\n\nThom Jewell, Austral's CEO commented, "We were pleased to see a strong\nlevel of interest in the company's current projects and its inventory of high\nquality exploration, appraisal and development opportunities. This financing\nbrings us flexibility and allows us to accelerate our onward program to\nenhance the value of our asset base. We have also significantly extended the\nCompany's base of shareholders as approximately 63% of the shares were placed\nwith investors newly introduced to Austral Pacific."\n\n\nOperations Update\n\n\nAustral Pacific (69.5%WI and Operator) has recently announced the\nsuccessful tie back of the Cheal B site wells into the production facility\nraising the production for the field to over 750 bopd. The next step in the\nphased Cheal development is to drill and connect the planned two additional\nwells, targeting...

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