WELLINGTON, New Zealand, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. (TSX-V: APX; NZSX: APX; AMEX: AEN)

Materials for Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. shareholders were mailed (or email notification sent) on April 28, 2008 in relation to the Company's annual general and special meeting of shareholders, to be held on May 22, 2008 at noon (NZ time) at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, 147 The Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand. The record date for mailing and voting was April 3, 2008.

The Company's Annual Report is available for download from the company's website http://www.austral-pacific.com, or a printed copy may be obtained on request from the Company Secretary (without charge to shareholders). Additional copies of the Report will be available to shareholders at the AGM.

As previously documented in recent filings, Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. has agreed to issue shares to its loan facility provider, Investec Bank (Australia) Limited, to the value of US$750,000 based on the market price at March 19, 2008, as a work fee for the agreed restructuring of the company's loan facility. The issuance of the 1,056,338 shares is subject to final regulatory approvals.

     Web site:    http://www.austral-pacific.com
     Email:       ir@austral-pacific.com
     Phone:       Thom Jewell, CEO +64 (4) 495 0880 or
                  Brad Holmes +1 (713) 304 6962

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.

SOURCE Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.