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Story: Economy and the environment

Kāpuni ammonia urea plant

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Kāpuni ammonia urea plant

Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (left) is guided around the Kāpuni ammonia urea plant in south Taranaki in 1982. The Kāpuni plant was part of a swathe of large industrial and energy developments termed ‘Think Big’, which were designed to reduce New Zealand’s dependence on imported oil and to diversify its economy. The Kāpuni plant produces urea, a chemical containing nitrogen, from natural gas. Urea is the most widely used nitrogen fertiliser in New Zealand, and is also used in some manufacturing processes.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1982/4359/28

by John Nicholson

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Eric Pawson, Economy and the environment – Regulating economy and environment, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21659/kapuni-ammonia-urea-plant (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Eric Pawson, published 26 February 2010.