In recent months we've had the BP disaster, the Obama moratorium, and generally oily investor sentiment around drillers, but one truth reigns supreme, says Motley Fool Income Investor analyst James Early: Deepwater remains on oil's horizon. In fact, it defines it: With most of the world's light, easy-to-access crude siphoned dry, heavy oil deep under water will have to slake our world's petro-thirst.

Global deepwater leaders like Brazil's Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) and Norway's Statoil (NYSE: STO) should have an advantage, but investors wishing to stay stateside can more safely ogle ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) or Chevron (NYSE: CVX). And given ConocoPhillips' added focus on natural gas and refining, Chevron emerges as the purer play for a domestic king of the deep. Watch the video for James' analysis: