KAPUNI

locality in Taranaki local government region, a natural-gas and oil field south of Mount Egmont, western North Island, New Zealand. Petroleum from the locality is piped to Auckland and Wellington, principally for use as a household fuel. Natural gas produced at Kapuni supplies a wide area and is conveyed by pipeline to the principal cities of North Island. The town of Kapuni, on the Kaupokonui River, is a service centre for an area that has one of the highest rural population densities in the nation. It lies on a rail line to New Plymouth. Pop. (1981) 335.