Austral Pacific Corporate Update

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Sept. 4 /CNW/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. (TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; Amex: AEN)

Annual Shareholders' Meeting

At the Company's annual shareholders meeting held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on August 22, 2007, the shareholders re-elected David Newman, Peter Hill, Ronald Bertuzzi, Douglas Ellenor and Thompson Jewell, and appointed Bernhard Zinkhofer, to the Board of the Company for the ensuing year. The shareholders reappointed KPMG as auditor for the ensuing year and re-approved the 10% rolling stock option plan for the coming year.

Dr. Hill was elected as Board Chairman and took the opportunity to offer a vote of thanks to outgoing Chairman, Mr. Newman. "David has contributed enormously to the growth of the Company over the last 4 years. His professionalism and business awareness have been vital in shaping the Company into its new form. We are very pleased that David has agreed to remain part of the Company by accepting to chair our Audit Committee as we continue our restructuring and growth plans."

Dr. Hill, who was appointed to the Board in January 2006, brings over 35 years experience in the exploration and production industry, including 22 years with BP in a range of senior positions in Australia, Egypt, New Zealand, the North Sea and South America. Dr Hill was the CEO and President of Benton Oil and Gas Company (now called Harvest Natural Resources) and was instrumental in growing the company from a market capitalization of $US50million in 2000 to $US750million in 2005. He now consults to and advises investment banks and hedge funds. Austral Pacific is his only board seat.

A briefing for those shareholders who were unable to attend the AGM will also be held, on September 12, 2007 at noon (NZST), at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, 147 The Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand.

Web site:  http://www.austral-pacific.com
Email:     ir@austral-pacific.com
Phone:     Thom Jewell, CEO +64 (4) 495 0880

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.