Austral Pacific Files 2008 Annual Results

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[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nWELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 25 /CNW/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.\n(TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX)\n\n\n\n\n\nNew Zealand-based exploration and production company, Austral Pacific\nEnergy Ltd. has filed its annual audited financial statements for the year\nended December 31, 2008.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe company reports continuing liquidity issues, but with the ongoing\nsupport of its lender, has embarked upon a plan to reduce its cost base and\nrefocus its activities around the producing Cheal field. The reported loss for\n2008 of $43.78 million was driven in large part by:\n\n\n\n-- write down of the Cheal asset book value (due to reduced reserves, as\n previously reported);\n-- expensing the 2007 Cardiff acquisition and workover costs; and\n-- realized losses from settling forward oil sales contracts in May 2008.\n\n\n\n\nThe reduction in Cheal reserves was driven by lower oil volumes due to\nthe reduced thickness of the oil bearing reservoir encountered in the Cheal A6\nwell and a conservative recovery factor based on the existing well performance\nover the past twelve months.\n\n\n\n\n\nCommenting on the results, Austral Pacific chief executive officer, Thom\nJewell, said, "The valuation of the Cheal field asset has been calculated on\nthe basis of a zero forward capital spend. We expect to be able to perform\nwell optimization from cash flow. Given a stable production operation, we will\nseek additional investment for a well drilling program to expand the field and\nproduce additional resources that are not currently recognised in our\nindependent reserves report."\n\n\n\n\n\nOil sales increased to $11.77 million from $7.34 million in 2007, due to\nhigher oil prices together with increased production volumes from a full\nyear's permanent production at Cheal. The Cheal A7 well, drilled in July 2008,\nwas brought into production in August through a temporary connection, and\nconstruction of permanent tie-in facilities is currently underway.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe initial loan of $23 million from Investec Bank was paid off during\nthe year, but further borrowings to close-out the oil sales contracts in May\nand settling a gas prepayment liability in December has left the company with\na debt of $16.79 million at year-end.\n\n\n\n\n\nJewell commented, "Although the financial statements note, as they did\nlast year, that the...

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