A Gisborne District Council employee and other east coast representatives are to be taken on an all-expenses paid trip to North America by a Canadian oil exploration company.
Tag Oil and Apache Canada, which plans to drill four wells on the East Coast, will host the delegation during a trip from 3 - 13 February.
Tag Oil has exploration rights to more than 500,000 hectares of land in New Zealand and wants to expand operations to the East Coast with Apache Canada.
Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon says the officer likely to go to North America works in the geotechnical and soil conservation field, and has been instructed to look at the issue with an open mind.
He says a final decision on the trip will be made at a council meeting this Thursday.
Cr Manu Caddie says the delegation will obviously be wined and dined by oil officials but meetings with oil exploration opponents have also been organised. These include environmentalists and politicians.
