President of WesternGeco and vice president of Schlumberger Dalton Boutte said recent deepwater successes have whetted the industry's appetite for more.

"The move to deep water is on the rise," he said.

"In 2000 there were 47 deepwater fields, by 2006 there were 157 and by 2012 it's predicted the number of deepwater fields would increase to 437."

Boutte also said increasing deepwater exploration would require a changing mix of technologies to help reduce uncertainty for companies.

"Faster drilling and well construction could bring significant advantages to the industry," he said.

President of the International Association of Drilling Contractors Lee Hunt agreed with Boutte.

"Advanced drilling technology such as managed-pressure drilling and expandables will be necessary for operators to efficiently drill deeper wells in deeper waters and harsher environments," he said.

"Advanced equipment such as iron roughnecks and automatic pipe-handling systems will become critical in recruiting and training a high-tech workforce to operate high-tech drilling rigs."

Hunt said training should become the industry's top priority and it should look at Generation Y as the future workforce.

Boutte said the lack of trained professionals would present one of the toughest ongoing challenges for deepwater drilling and companies should offer more recruiting and training programs.

"Technology without the right people is after all just a piece of equipment," Boutte said.

According to Hunt, regulatory problems are another constraint on deepwater operators.

"First, bio-fouling rules could hit unaware operators very shortly," he said.

"Second, heli-deck standards being proposed could re-classify a number of offshore rigs. That means either fewer rigs available for exploration and production work in Australia or an increase in rig modification costs."