Police can intervene in oil protests off East Cape

Police have the authority to intervene in protests against a ship searching for oil off the East Cape, Prime Minister John Key says.

The Orient Explorer, owned by Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, is operating under a five-year licence granted by the Government to carry out seismic testing in the Raukumara Basin.

Over the weekend swimmers from a Greenpeace protest flotilla forced the ship off course by swimming close to it, and no action was taken against them.

Mr Key told reporters today he had received a Crown Law opinion stating police had jurisdiction throughout New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

"My expectations are that the police would balance the rights of people to peacefully protest, but also with the rights of the company to carry out the seismic activity in the Raukumara Basin that we granted them," Mr Key told reporters.

"How they balance those rights on the high seas is clearly an operational matter for the police."

A navy ship was now in the region, and could be used by police if required.

"The police have had a long-standing memorandum of understanding in operation with the navy that, if and when required, they can use naval assets in conducting police work."

Mr Key said it was for the police to decide how the rights of Petrobras and the protesters were balanced.

"In my mind, this is absolutely no different to if a protest took place on dry land," he said.

"If Greenpeace chose to have a protest, for instance, in Lambton Quay, it would be my expectation that they could do that but in a way that balanced the rights of others to carry out what the Government has legally given them the ability to do."

Mr Key said he had not taken advice on whether it was illegal to sabotage New Zealand's economic interests.

"What I can say is, quite clearly, we are a Government that believes there are opportunities in the oil and gas exploration field," he said.

"We believe that it's in New Zealand's interests to harvest that opportunity, and, in granting the licence to Petrobras, that was a first step to determ ining whether that particular area of the East Coast presents opportunities."