Focusing on the issue of making changes to blowout preventers in the hope of avoiding oil spills misses the bigger problem of a lack of adequate training, according to a drilling expert.

Greg McCormack, director of the University of Texas Petroleum Extension Service, told the Houston Chronicle: "You can put all these mechanical devices in but, at the end of the day, people have to operate them."

His comments come in response to suggestions from Congress that investing in new standards for blowout preventers could stop another oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Federal regulators at the Interior Department are reportedly mulling changes to the devices that would boost the chances of stopping a spill.

However, the Houston Chronicle reports that some industry figures believe a full investigation into why the preventer failed on Deepwater Horizon should be completed before any changes are introduced.

While concerns over the effectiveness of blowout preventers have been raised, investigators examining the Deepwater Horizon incident have also raised questions over the extent of training offered to offshore workers.

Oil & Gas Directory: Training & Development