By Gavin Evans
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest oil company by market value, is studying alternative technology to extend the life of New Zealand’s oldest gas field.
Kapuni, discovered in 1959, has pumped more than three times its original reserves estimate and Shell plans to keep it flowing by loosening “tight” rock formations, said Gaurdie Banister, Shell’s technical vice president for exploration in Southeast Asia. Shell and Todd Energy Ltd. each own half of the field, supplier of a fifth of the nation’s gas.