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Chevron Corp. made its first foray into lithium with two acreage deals in northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas aimed at building a domestic “commercial scale” business.
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Chevron acquired 125,000 net acres from TerraVolta Resources LLC and East Texas Natural Resources LLC in the Smackover Formation, an underground rock formation that holds high lithium concentration, the Houston-based company said in a statement Tuesday.
The move follows arch-rival Exxon Mobil Corp. into a key resource necessary for the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources that would allow the company to pivot if oil and gas demands wanes in the coming decades. Exxon first got into lithium in 2023 by also acquiring acreage in the Smackover Formation. The oil majors see a natural synergy with their existing business because the metal, which is used in batteries, is sourced from underground brines using similar drilling and pumping methods as oil.
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Although lithium is not geologically scarce like other battery metals such as cobalt and nickel, mining high-grade quantities at scale is a major challenge.
Like Exxon, Chevron wants to use direct lithium extraction, a method it says allows for “faster and more efficient production” with a “smaller environmental footprint” than hard-rock mining used in other parts of the world. Producing in the US will reduce dependence on other countries for energy-transition materials, Chevron said.
“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,” said Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies.
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