Where the oil is: 6 huge untapped fields

It may be tougher for energy companies to produce crude, but that isn't because we've hit peak oil. The world is still rich with the resource, the problem is how to access it.

1 of 7
BACKNEXT
Alarms about peak oil are still sounding in certain circles, but the world, for now, is still awash in petroleum.

There are many oil reserves around the globe that remain untapped, and explorers continue to discover new fields deep beneath the earth's surface. Depending on how the controversy surrounding the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge turns out, the U.S. could exploit oil reserves in the area, despite potentially grave environmental consequences. And to the North, Canada's tar sands are one of the largest oil reserves yet to be produced, holding the majority of the country's 178 billion barrels of oil resources.

Elsewhere there are even more reserves, but they're often in places that are either geologically or politically difficult to access. Some of them come with dangerous security risks to drilling.

Indeed, the oil squeeze has everything to do with access, and very little to do with the sheer volume of untapped oil left in the earth.

NEXT: Mexico
Last updated January 26 2011: 12:08 PM ET
So how did Tony Hayward come to preside over one of the worst industrial disasters in history? A Fortune investigation reveals a saga of hubris, ambition, and a safety philosophy that focused too much on spilled coffee and not enough on drilling disasters. More
In Bob Dudley, the oil giant has found a chief executive who is dramatically different from his predecessor. That, it seems, is exactly what the company had in mind. More
Something's gotta give: As commodity costs climb, who will pay the price? More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.