---

Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATIONS

Chief Executive Officers Certification Pursuant to Rule
13a-14(a)

I, Michael K. Paulk, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of American
Natural Energy Corporation;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the consolidated financial
statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly
present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations
and cash flows of the small business issuer as of, and for, the periods
presented in this report;

4. The small business issuers other certifying officer(s) and
I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the
small business issuer and have:

| | a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
      caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
      supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the small
      business issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
      us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
      which this report is being prepared;                                        
| | -- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
| | b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting,
      or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed
      under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
      reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
      statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
      accounting principles;                                                          
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
| | c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business
      issuers disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report
      our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
      procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on
      such evaluation; and                                                                                                                                         
| |    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
| | d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the small business
      issuers internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
      the small business issuers most recent fiscal quarter (the small business
      issuers fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
      materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
      small business issuers internal control over financial
  reporting.

5. The small business issuers other certifying officer(s) and
I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the small business issuers auditors and the audit
committee of the small business issuers board of directors (or persons
performing the equivalent functions):

| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
      the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
      are reasonably likely to adversely affect the small business issuer's
      ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
      and
| | --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |     |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
      management or other employees who have a significant role in the small
      business issuer's internal control over financial
  reporting.                                                                                                         

|Date: March 31, 2011 | /s/ Michael K. Paulk
|-------------------- | --------------------
|                     | Michael K. Paulk    
|                     | President           

---