The Island is set to host a $1 million exercise which will test to see if its services can deal with a major ecological disaster.

ESSO Bermuda and Government officials joined with oil tanker representatives this week to plan a major oil spill exercise to take place in Bermuda in May.

The meeting marked the second session for the group which is preparing the groundwork for the three-day exercise which will test Government's Marine Pollution Contingency Plan.

The plan covers the set up of a command structure with organised response and clean-up.

The exercise will test the readiness of local response organisations to an oil spill and how local and overseas bodies will interact when required to work together, said Environmental engineer Tom Sleeter.

"We have not had a major incident for over ten years but the likelihood of one is always a possibility,'' he said.

The scenario, which will see an oil tanker "run aground'' off the Island and dump some 7,000 barrels of oil into the sea, will be prepared by UK consulting firm Stirling Reid.

No oil will be spilled in the "major marine pollution simulated incident'', noted Dr. Sleeter.

The exercise will be funded by ESSO Bermuda to the tune of some $1 million and will include demonstrations of state of the art oil spill response equipment that will be air-lifted to the Island from the Clean Caribbean Cooperative's headquarters in Florida.

ESSO started holding the oil spill drills last year. The first drill was held in Cadiz, Spain, and Bermuda was chosen for the second location because of the readiness and willingness of its Government to test its emergency response system, said ESSO Bermuda country manager Juan Alberto Herreramoro.

The exercise will be monitored by over a hundred observers from oil companies and a variety of countries looking for ideas for their own plans.