American International Petroleum purchases 70 percent working interest in 4.7 million acre concession in Kazakhstan.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 1997--

Independent estimates of potential recoverable reserves exceed

450 million barrels from 6 structures; 10 additional structures are

being evaluated

American International Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ NMS: AIPN) announced today it has signed an Agreement with a German based company, MED Shipping & Trading S.A. (MED) for the purchase of a 70 percent working interest in a 4.7 million acre concession in Kazakhstan for an undisclosed amount of stock and cash. The License Area is located in western Kazakhstan about 125 miles Southeast of Chevron's multi-billion barrel Tengiz Oil field and the Caspian Sea. The Area is bordered to the South by Elf Aquitaines' License, and to the West by both Oryx/Exxon License and AMOCO License.

Preliminary evaluation by the company's independent petroleum engineering consulting firm indicates that potential recoverable reserves from 6 structures, located in the western half of the License, could be as much as 458,000,000 barrels from Jurassic Age sandstones. Ten additional structures have been identified in the License Area, but have not yet been evaluated.

Regional seismic on the eastern half of the License Area indicates additional structures, the largest of which measures about 50 Kms in length. The Kazakhstan Government drilled one well in this structure to the top of the feature, which blew out with gas and condensate such that no additional evaluation was possible from the well. The company believes that this structure, whose potential reserves are not yet estimated, could provide the largest potential deposit in the License Area.

The company is continuing its evaluation of the area and will expand its evaluation program with the release of additional data from the government.

The area is conducive to providing various sales options for any commercial oil or gas discovery from the License site since there are several oil and gas pipelines which cross the area. The existing infrastructure permits rapid development of any commercial production and more importantly provide flexibility in securing acceptable sales markets. Production can be sold North to Russia, Finland and the Atyrau Refinery, and/or South through the Caspian Sea port at Aktau for export abroad.

MED had received a 90 percent working interest from the original license holder Scientific-Industrial Firm DANK TOO (DANK) a private Kazakhstan company. A joint venture limited liability company, MED Shipping Usturt Petroleum (MSUP) has been formed to manage the license operations. AIPC will own 70 percent of MSUP and will operate the concession and finance the work program to explore the area. The formality of governmental approval is required for the transfer of the license from DANK to MSUP. The license transfer to MSUP will be executed with the registration of AIPC's wholly owned subsidiary AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM KAZAKHSTAN which will handle all of AIPC's operations in the country.

American International Petroleum Corp. is engaged in oil and natural gas exploration in Kazakhstan, and refining in Louisiana.

CONTACT: For American International Petroleum Corp.

Investor Relations 

Wall Street Associates, 561/988-0471

or

Millenium Holdings Group Inc., 561/988-2334