Austral Pacific Sells Second PNG Asset
May 26 2008 - 5:53PM
PR Newswire (US)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, May 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In
keeping with its strategy to monetize non core assets and focus on
its New Zealand projects, Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. (TSX-V: APX;
NZSX: APX; Amex: AEN) (Austral) is pleased to announce the sale of
its interests in Petroleum Prospecting Licenses (PPLs) 235 and 261
in Papua New Guinea. An agreement has been reached to sell APX's
interest in the licenses to Foreland Oil Limited a subsidiary
company of Rift Oil Limited (Rift) for $US 5 Million. Included in
the agreement is Austral's 35% interest in the Coral Sea drilling
rig and a dismissal of any and all claims or litigation between the
companies. The asset sale completes Austral's phased exit from PNG
and affords a valuable cash injection which will be used to further
reduce the company debt profile and support drilling activities at
Cheal, Kahili and Cardiff. Commenting on the agreement, Austral CEO
and President Thom Jewell said, "The commercialization of gas
resources is a major challenge in the PNG foreland basin. The
company made a strategic decision to monetize its gas resources in
the ground rather than pursue a significant capital spending
program targeting a long term gas market. To accomplish this goal,
Austral has been in negotiations with a number of companies and is
pleased to be able to complete this transaction with Rift." The
decision to exit from PNG will allow Austral to continue to focus
on its goals in New Zealand to increase production, more fully
utilize the world class Cheal production station to reduce lifting
costs. The company intends to build shareholder value through
expanding the development of the Cheal field and pursuing upside
potential of the Greater Cheal trend, Kahili and Cardiff. Web site:
http://www.austral-pacific.com/ Email: 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. DATASOURCE: Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. CONTACT: Thom
Jewell, CEO of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., +64-4-495-0880 Web
site: http://www.austral-pacific.com/
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