Washington (AP) The U.S. Geological survey says some 90 billion barrels of oil and nearly a third of the world's undiscovered natural gas sits untapped under an area north of the Arctic Circle.

The area accounts for about a fifth of the world's undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.

The oil is considered “technically recoverable” using existing technology. However, the cost of overcoming obstacles to drilling, such as permanent sea ice or deep ocean waters, isn't taken into consideration in the report.

The USGS estimates about 84 percent of the undiscovered oil and gas is offshore, but most of it is still close enough to land to fall under national territorial claims.

Much of the oil is off the coast of Alaska or in Russian provinces.