Beverly Hills is known worldwide for many of its exceptional offerings. However, few know what lurks underneath the beautiful city - oil. Beverly Hills, despite its “innocent” exterior produces nearly a million barrels of oil a year. Oil wells in the city are hidden within buildings or otherwise masked.

While California itself is believed to be sitting atop of nearly 3 billion barrels of oil, oil tycoons aren’t exactly flocking to the area. Obstacles including the age of the oil fields and a lack of sufficient manpower are putting a damper on drilling ambitions. Oil from some parts of California (including Beverly Hills) also requires more refining than does the oil from other parts of the country.

Despite these obstacles, demand for drilling permits in the state have risen by more than 20%. Those who own mineral rights to land with oil underneath are also beginning to show enthusiasm.