Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee says New Zealand observers in the United States are looking at the clean-up operation after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr Brownlee says Maritime New Zealand officials are watching the work being done to fix the leak and learning how it happened in the first place.
He says the Government is deeply concerned about the situation in the US, and is looking at the lessons that can be learned from it.
Earlier, the Green Party called for a moratorium on deepwater oil drilling until the industry has proved it can do it safely and can prevent a disaster like the one in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr Brownlee says the Government has been looking at how environmental safeguards for deepsea drilling in New Zealand could be included in new legislation, details of which are to be announced tomorrow.
