According to DWL's John Westwood, "This growth to mainly come from the oil & gas sector as increasing demand raises ROV utilisation and day rates."

Westwood was speaking to delegates at the Advances in Technology for Underwater Vehicles conference, where he was also promoting DWL's latest The World AUV & ROV Report.

The DWL report stated, "Operations of cable controlled 'work-class' remotely operated underwater vehicles is a business worth US$600 million worldwide and this is forecast to grow to US$725 million by 2008."

The report believes that ROVs have a steady growth prospect in the offshore drilling and construction sectors with a potentially good market for the vehicles in the annual pipeline inspection field.

However, both the report and Westwood believe that the real future money-maker is in the field of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Essentially a cable-less ROV, Westwood believes that AUVs are "a great idea seeking commercial markets".

"To make progress AUV designers need to fully understand potential applications then tailor solutions to customer needs," said Westwood.