With Two Acquisitions, Chevron Joins the March to Lithium

Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Chevron Corporation (Houston, Texas) has joined the list of oil and gas companies looking to use their drilling expertise to access the lithium resources in the extensive Smackover Formation, which spans northeast Texas and southeastern Arkansas. Chevron U.S.A. Incorporated, a subsidiary of Chevron, acquired 125,000 acres of leasehold positions from TerraVolta Resources (Houston, Texas) (100,000 acres) and East Texas Natural Resources (25,000 acres).

In a press release on Tuesday, Chevron said, "This formation is of particular interest due to its notably high lithium content and marks Chevron's first step toward establishing a commercial-scale, domestic lithium business."

This follows a growing trend. Earlier this month, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) (Houston, Texas) announced a joint venture with BHE Renewables LLC (Des Moines, Iowa), a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (Omaha, Nebraska). The stated purpose is to demonstrate and deploy a direct lithium extraction (DLE) process developed by Occidental's wholly owned subsidiary TerraLithium.

In May 2024, Norwegian energy giant Equinor (Stavanger) enter a partnership with Standard Lithium (Vancouver, British Columbia) to acquire two lithium companies in the Smackover Formation. Equinor owns 45% of the project, named Smackover Lithium, to Standard Lithium's 55%. It will also use DLE technology for the extraction process.

In early 2023, Exxon Mobil Corporation (Spring, Texas) acquired the rights to 120,000 gross acres of the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas, with a declared plan to become a leading supplier of lithium by 2030, looking to supply enough of the metal to power one million vehicles by then.

On November 13, 2023, ExxonMobil announced the drilling of the first well, with first production targeted for 2027, according to the company website. ExxonMobil plans to use conventional oil and gas drilling to reach lithium-rich brine from reservoirs about 10,000 deep, then employ DLE to process the lithium to a battery-grade level onsite.

Some experts believe the company will be investing about $1 billion in lithium.

DLE is touted as a more environmentally friendly method of lithium extraction, taking lithium ions directly from brines rich in the metal. Older methods require large evaporation ponds and take much longer to complete the process. DLE uses absorbents, membranes, or other methods to isolate lithium ions.

Oil and gas companies are also looking into smaller lithium projects. Most oil wells produce many times more water than oil and that water contains traces of many elements including iodine, lithium, magnesium, calcium--and lithium. One company, Ft. Worth, Texas-based Element3, announced in 2024 it had developed a cost-effective way to remove lithium from produced water, and many others are also working toward that end.

While the quantities would likely be small, recovering lithium from a process that is already making money from oil and gas production could be less involved and more cost effective than pure-play lithium extraction. But most treatment processes are more costly than simply injecting that water into saltwater disposal wells, and extraction has yet to be adopted and proven at any scale.

For any of this to be profitable, the end product must sell at a high enough price to pay for itself. So far this year, rising supply and slowing demand have pushed prices to four-year lows. Mines in Chile and Argentina are producing significantly more lithium than ever before. Worldwide purchases of electric vehicles, especially in world leader China, have fallen this year. And in the U.S., subsidies and tax credits for energy transition projects involving batteries are in danger of being reduced or eliminated.

At the same time, the U.S. government is touting its commitment to producing critical minerals including lithium. On June 3, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported it had "increased transparency and accountability for the federal permitting of two Department of Energy (DOE) lithium processing projects, advancing President Trump's commitment to bolster domestic production of minerals and support American jobs."

The two projects are Kings Mountain and Liberty Owl. The King's Mountain Lithium Material Processing Plant, owned by Albemarle (Charlotte, North Carolina), "is receiving a $150 million federal award through DOE's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC)."

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here to read a project report on the mine restart and processing plant.

Liberty Owl, in Texarkana, is owned by TerraVolta, which sold part of its Smackover assets to Chevron. It is receiving a $225 million award through MESC for the construction of a commercial scale lithium extraction and refining facility. Subscribers can click here for a detailed project report.

For more information, see June 9, 2025, article - Trump Fast-Tracks Two Lithium Projects.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).