At its most fundamental, deepwater exploration and development is about cost and risk. In the past two decades, advancing technology has made it possible to dramatically reduce both. The result is increased exploration success and a lower commercial threshold that makes more discoveries—in ever deeper water—commercially viable.Petroleum demand will continue to grow and deep water fields will be increasingly important in meeting that demand.In late 2007, Douglas-Westwood updated its World Deepwater Market Report to cover 2008-2012. The report, for water depths of 500 m (1,640 ft) and more, forecasts annual worldwide capital spending will reach nearly $25 billion over the period. ...