Modern history began on January 10, 1901.
Everything that came before that moment in time belonged to one era, and everything that came after, to another.
After this date, the steam-driven engine, which powered the Industrial Revolution, was an artifact.
The airplane, on the other hand, which the Wright brothers delivered to the world just two years later, in 1903, became a viable means of mass transport.
Horses and carriages, which had been humanity’s main source of long-distance personal transportation for centuries, became a symbol of the past, while Henry Ford’s Model T and every automobile that came after became a symbol of things to come.
The moment I’m talking about took place in Beaumont, Texas, on a cool winter day, when a single well drilled at the Spindletop oil field exploded in a 200-foot geyser — heralding the arrival of the Texas Oil Boom.
Pumping more than 100,000 barrels per day for nine straight days (more than half the current daily production of the entire nation of Germany), Spindletop turned the U.S. into the world’s foremost energy superpower… and at just the right time in history.
With the internal combustion engine powering both automobiles and aircraft from the very moment of inception, it was only natural that the owner of the underlying energy source also became its greatest benefactor.
A decade before Spindletop, the U.S., along with most of the rest of the world, was a primarily rural, animal-driven, non-mechanized society.
One Substance… Total Societal Transformation
Within a decade of the Spindletop gusher, Ford was producing 70,000 cars per year.
Within two decades, Ford was producing 1.25 million — with its competitors bringing the annual total to 2 million.
What oil did to change the world in the years that followed is hard to fully describe or appreciate.
Oil and the cars it drove created the suburbs.
It drove the machines of war in both World Wars, becoming the main strategic focus of both Japan and Germany in their campaigns against the U.S. and the USSR, respectively.
But I don’t think I need to bring up things like world wars and millions of cars to illustrate just how important oil is.
You know, because most likely, oil is what drove you to work today.
Oil is what took you to the store the last time you went shopping; it’s what will take you on your next vacation.
It’s extremely important to us all on an individual level… Multiply that importance by several billion people who depend on it every day, and it becomes clear that this simple organic compound is nothing less than the lifeblood of modern society — no less important to the ongoing operations of our cities, industries, and communities than the air we breathe or the water we drink.
For the last century, the world has binged on oil, and has grown thanks to it.
Civilization’s Fertilizer
Populations have swollen exponentially with cheap energy powering cities and food production.
Total population growth since the start of the oil boom, in fact, has gone up by a factor of six.
What took humanity more than 10,000 years to achieve in terms of raw numbers, we now add every 15 or so years… all thanks to oil.
Anybody with half a brain knew it wouldn’t last forever, though.
There is never such rapid, dramatic growth without an inevitable correction.
Now that the world’s known oil reserves are gradually becoming depleted, industry experts, scientists, and business leaders are recognizing the writing on the wall.
Even once-mighty, empire-building concentrations of oil like Saudi Arabia’s legendary Ghawar — the oil field that built the world’s greatest oil dynasty ever — are starting to wither with age.
An entire region built on this oil is already going into decline — a signpost of things to come for all economies built primarily on this resource.
But why is oil in decline? Well, even as reserves run closer and closer to dry, demand for the substance is already getting some serious competition.
At the start of the 20th century, oil-driven engines supplanted steam-driven engines.
What Goes Around…
Today, at the start of the 21st century, oil is getting the same treatment from a new source of power.
To the oil-based economies, this new power source is nothing less than a silver bullet.
It’s clean, it’s easy to use, and, most importantly, it’s more versatile than oil could ever be.
In fact, that cell phone in your pocket is already running on this energy source.
Your laptop or tablet PC… same thing.
For years, this element — a metal, actually — has quietly been powering all of our personal devices.
Today, however, we’re reaching the exact point in the market where oil was when Spindletop blew more than 100 years ago.
This metal now powers more than just mobile devices.
It powers cars. Pretty soon, it will allow homeowners just like you to power their own houses and store the energy they don’t use.
This metal is the means of storing energy for applications ranging in size from a few ounces to modern trains all the way to whole communities consisting of thousands of homes, powered by building-sized batteries running on this stuff.
Just like oil before it, this metal is already changing the fabric of society. The fact that there are today more mobile phones on earth than there are people is clear evidence of this.
Oil, however, never came close to this level of versatility… and now that this metal is being incorporated into the design of more and more consumer devices, oil will be consigned to the pages of history just as its replacement inevitably takes away every slice of market share.
With changes this big already happening, the next question likely is: Where is the investing community in all this?
Well, as you might have guessed, this metal is already big business.
The Smart Money is Already in for Billions… But the Real Potential is Harder to Find
Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, has already invested billions into a single factory just to turn this raw resource into usable consumer products.
This facility, nicknamed the “Gigafactory” by Musk, has been in operation since the start of this year.
But that’s the end of the product chain.
To the profit-minded investor, the biggest gains are always at the start of the product chain… the ground floor, as it’s known commonly.
For that, you need to go to where this metal first comes out of the ground.
Those kinds of investments, however, are nowhere near the blue-chip realm occupied by the likes of Tesla and other multibillion-dollar powerhouses.
To find companies that mine the element that is already running the bulk of modern society, you need to go deep into the weeds and find companies that nobody trading the NYSE or Nasdaq has ever heard of.
That sort of investing isn’t for everyone, because while the potential gains are almost unimaginable, the cost of making a bad decision is steep.
Sometimes, that risk is too great, even for seasoned traders like myself.
That’s why I keep some of the world’s best experts on the subject close by to help me make critical decisions in this fast-moving market.
Keith Kohl is one of those experts, and just last week, he released a report that may be the last word in 21st century energy investing.
I read it the moment he made it available.
I recommend you do the same. It’s completely free of charge and available right here, with just one click.
Don’t let this opportunity pass you by… We already know it only comes around once every 100 years.
Fortune favors the bold,
Alex Koyfman
Check us out on YouTube!His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Energy and Capital. To learn more about Alex, click here.
