That's right oil, not gold, oil that developing nations need to power up their economies and grow with the rest of the 21st century world.
India is a prime example.
Unlike the days of the British Raj, when Indian princes and their British counterparts found fame and fortune as hunters of exotic game and precious gems, today these princes are hunters of oil.
While India's economy races ahead at growth rates in excess of 8%, year after year, its ability to keep up that pace is becoming more dependent on oil and energy resources every day.
It has struggled with power shortages, blackouts and rolling brownouts which are hurting overall production and growth, according to a report on Economy.
com® by Matthew Cairns.
India's economy is not dissimilar to ours 100 years ago.
Our population came out of the fields and joined the middle class as jobs were being created by new manufacturing industries.
With this new found middle-class status comes the demands for perks of life ...
air conditioners, cars, electric appliances ...
all of which put even more demands on an overtaxed energy system.
According to Department of Energy figures, India's current domestic crude oil production accounts for only 30% of its total demand.
To take up the slack, India is looking to increase its nuclear power output by a factor of 10 in the next 15 years.
India is also striving to increase hydroelectricity generation, which currently supplies around 20% of current power needs.
India does not have enough domestic oil resources to meet the demands for energy.
As a result they are forced to import about two thirds of their daily need of 2 million barrels a day.
Part of the reason we have seen oil prices skyrocket in the past two years can be attributed not only to India's thirst, but also to that of neighboring China, its competitor for imported oil.
Between the two nations they import about 7% of world demand at 5.
46 million barrels a day, according to PetrolWorld statistics.
By 2025, Indian officials project their nation could be consuming 7.
4 million barrels a day ...
over three times what they consume today.
This level of consumption bodes ill for the rest of the world competing for scarce oil resources as well as an environment which could pay the price for increased energy related pollution.
India 's success at dealing with its growing needs for energy in large part will come from its diplomatic success in dealing with old adversaries.
By not directly bordering oil producing Asian countries, India needs a transit system through bordering Pakistan, or access to Myanmar, a geographically strategic Asian source of oil ...
both of which historically have not been "best friends" with India.
In the hunt for oil, India's biggest competitor remains China .
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
(ONGC) has invested approximately $3.
5 billion in overseas exploration since the beginning of 2000 ...
but that pales in comparison to China's largest international oil company investments of around $40 billion.
While the two giants are competing for the same prize, they have begun to cooperate and work together on a number of other energy related projects.
Earlier this year, as reported by Glenn Levine writing for Economy.
com, the two countries reached an agreement that aims to promote cooperation and collusion between Indian and Chinese companies when competing for energy resources.
Investors should keep an eye on this part of the world and its struggle to deal with energy needs.
The outcome will greatly impact our oil prices and the development of these giants as traders for our economy.
On the plus side, these nations are learning to compete economically rather than on the battlefields of war.