Members of the Otago Regional Council's oil spill response team are in Tauranga to assist with the Maritime New Zealand-led efforts to contain an estimated 20-tonne slick which has leaked from the grounded container ship Rena.
ORC corporate services director Wayne Scott said three people, including a wildlife rescue specialist, had been sent north to help with the Rena oil spill operation.
The ORC co-ordinated its own oil spill response team, which was responsible for handling any emergency situation which might happen along the Otago coastline, in conjunction with Maritime NZ, he said.
The ORC maintained oil spill containment equipment, including "pumps, booms, and skimmers" which were kept on stand-by for any local emergency operations.
"We have a fairly well-practised and resourced team ... trained to a national response [level]," Mr Scott said.
He could not remember the last time an oil-spill containment operation was launched in Otago waters.
A "three-tier" system was used to manage local response to oil spills, Mr Scott said.
A tier one response was used to handle oil spills of a "less-challenging" scale, he said.
These situations were often already identified and pre-planned for, such as a leak from "bunkerings" located at the harbour oil wharf, Mr Scott said.
A tier two response would swing into action for any operation on a "regional perspective", such as a localised oil spill within Otago Harbour.
A tier three response was for major off-shore emergencies, such as the escalating Rena situation in Tauranga, Mr Scott said.
The Green Party has called for a moratorium on all off-shore oil exploration, in the wake of the Rena grounding, citing concerns about New Zealand's ability to deal with major oil spills.
Dunedin has been touted as a base for offshore exploration, which may take place in the southern waters of the Canterbury basin.
Mr Scott said oil spill containment was an essential part of any risk-management response plan for off-shore exploration operations.
