EXHIBIT 12.1

CERTIFICATION
OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERpursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) of the Exchange Act,
as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Thompson Bruce Jewell, certify that:

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|1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of
 Austral Pacific Energy Ltd.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
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|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;                       
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|3. | Based on my knowledge, the 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 company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;                                              
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|4. | The company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)) and internal
 control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f)
 and 15d-15(f)) for the company and have:
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|   | 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 company,
 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;
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|   | 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 priniciples;   
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|   | c)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Evaluated the effectiveness of the company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                                                                                            
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|   | d)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Disclosed in this report any change in the companys
 internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period
 covered by the annual report that has materially affected, or is reasonably
 likely to materially affect, the companys internal control over financial
 reporting; and                                                                        

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|5. | The companys other certifying officer(s) and I have
 disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
 financial reporting, to the companys auditors and the audit committee of the
 companys board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
 functions):
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|   | 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 companys ability to record,
 process, summarize and report financial information; and
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|   | b)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
 management or other employees who have a significant role in the companys
 internal control over financial reporting.                                                                                                

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|Date:  June 24, 2008    | 
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|T B
 Jewell           | 
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|Thompson Bruce Jewell   | 
|Chief Executive Officer | 

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