Chevron Corp. has acquired two leaseholds in the Smackover Formation spanning about 125,00 net acres, saying the purchases mark the first step in its establishment of a commercial-scale lithium business in the United States.
The acreage positions, from East Texas Natural Resources LLC and The Energy & Minerals Group’s TerraVolta Resources, straddle Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas, Chevron said.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2024 reported 5-19 million metric tons of lithium reserves in Southwest Arkansas’ portion of Smackover, based on a study led by the government-run agency.
“Future development will aim to utilize the direct lithium extraction process, a set of advanced technologies employed to extract lithium from brines produced from the subsurface”, Chevron said in a press release. “Chevron seeks to deploy this emerging technology, which allows for faster and more efficient production and is expected to have a smaller environmental footprint compared to traditional extraction methods”.
“Lithium is a key component supporting the trend toward electrification and can contribute to building a resilient, lower carbon energy system that meets growing energy demand, while balancing reliability and affordability”, the oil and gas giant added.
Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, said, “This acquisition represents a strategic investment to support energy manufacturing and expand U.S.-based critical mineral supplies. Establishing domestic and resilient lithium supply chains is essential not only to maintaining U.S. energy leadership but also to meeting the growing demand from customers”.
“This opportunity builds on many of Chevron’s strengths including subsurface resource development and value chain integration”, Gustavson added.
“As demand for digital conveniences and EVs continues to increase, lithium has become one of the world’s most sought-after natural resources”, said Rania Yacoub, corporate business development manager at Chevron New Energies.
According to the USGS, the lower end of the estimate for lithium reserves in Southwest Arkansas’ portion of the formation exceeds the projected demand from electric vehicles by 2030.
As of 2024 commercial-scale lithium production in the U.S. was from a continental brine operation in Nevada, while two companies produced downstream lithium compounds from domestic or imported lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium hydroxide, according to USGS annual statistics. USGS said production
“We estimate there is enough dissolved lithium present in that region to replace U.S. imports of lithium and more”, said Katherine Knierim, principal researcher in the Southwest Arkansas study.
However, Knierim added, “It is important to caution that these estimates are an in-place assessment. We have not estimated what is technically recoverable based on newer methods to extract lithium from brines”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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