Hyperdrive
Exxon Aims to Produce Lithium in Rare Foray From Fossil Fuel
- Oil giant plans first lithium production from Arkansas by 2027
- Project would help offset decline in gasoline, diesel demand
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Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to become one of the biggest suppliers of lithium for electric vehicles, marking the oil giant’s first major foray outside of fossil fuels in decades.
Exxon will extract the metal from underground saltwater reservoirs in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas, employing a novel method called Direct Lithium Extraction not currently deployed at scale. Exxon aims to produce its first lithium by 2027 and ramp up output to the equivalent of 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2030.