As Peak Oil Looms, Exxon Wades into Lithium Mining

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This what the energy companies could have been doing ten years ago instead of getting behind Koch and trying to stop EVs with misinformation. I believe we will see a lot of the old guard go bankrupt. Vehicle manufacturers as well as energy companies.

Excerpt: Mon, May 22, 2023

"Eyeing a future of waning oil demand and rising sales of electric cars, Exxon Mobil is set to begin mining lithium, a key ingredient in EV batteries.

Exxon has bought drilling rights for a 120,000-acre swath of southern Arkansas that is estimated to contain enough lithium to supply 50 million electric vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reports. The $100 million investment, small for a company of Exxon’s size, does not signal a major strategy shift, but it does reflect a rapidly changing market in which EVs increasingly displace gas-powered cars.

In its latest energy outlook, Exxon projects that fuel demand from light-duty vehicles will peak around 2025 and that, by 2050, EVs will account for more than half of all new car sales.

Oil majors are bracing for the shift. Some, like BP and Shell, are betting on renewable energy. Others are focusing on extraction. Occidental Petroleum is investing in technology for drawing up underground lithium. Exxon could begin mining lithium in the next few months, the Journal reports."

More and related hot links here:

https://news.yahoo.com/peak-oil-looms-exxon-wades-131400404.html

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Exxon Quietly Joins Search For Lithium: Report 22 May 2023

"Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) has started to prepare for a future that will be significantly less reliant on gasoline. Exxon recently purchased drilling rights to a sizable chunk of Arkansas land from which it aims to produce the mineral, a key ingredient in batteries for electric cars, cellphones, and laptops, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.  According to the sources, lithium is far removed from the fossil-fuel business, which has powered Exxon's profits for over a century. It signals the company's assessment that demand for internal combustion engines could soon peak. The report mentions that Exxon acquired 120,000 gross acres from Galvanic Energy, an exploration firm, in the Smackover formation of southern Arkansas, for more than $100 million. Galvanic said last year that a third-party consultant it hired estimated the prospect could have 4 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent to power 50 million EVs, added the report. Exxon has plans to spend $17 billion through 2027 on cutting carbon emissions and developing low-carbon technologies, mentioned WSJ.

Exxon's CEO, Darren Woods, said last year that heavy industry, heavy transportation, and the production of chemicals would drive demand for fossil fuels for decades to come. Lithium production would also diversify Exxon's portfolio and expose them to a market that is expanding quickly. The company is setting up other facets of its operations to support electric automobiles."

Source with more:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/exxon-quietly-joins-search-for-lithium-report/ar-AA1bwWhB

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ExxonMobil Breaks into the Lithium Market with Arkansas Land Purchase

As it prepares for a future beyond black gold ExxonMobil is turning to silvery-white gold.

Exxon, a name synonymous with the oil industry in the US, has taken the first steps toward doing business in a future where the world is less dependent on petroleum. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that the largest offshoot of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil is now on the hunt for lithium. Fitting, given one of its labs was the actual birthplace of the first lithium battery in the 70s.

Keeps Going, and Going, and Going

Lithium, the lightest metal on the periodic table of elements, is used for all sorts of modern products – cell phones, laptops, smart watches, tablets – generally as the main component of their batteries. Lithium batteries charge quicker, last longer, and provide more power than conventional lead-acid batteries.

And now with car makers taking huge steps away from the internal combustion engine to usher in the true era of the electric vehicle, the need for lithium has punched through the sunroof. As the automotive industry pivots, so too does the fossil fuels sector:

•   Exxon purchased 120,000 acres in Arkansas’ Smackover Formation from exploration company Galvanic Energy for more than $100 million, sources told the WSJ. The area has been known for its rich oil deposits since the early 1900s, but just last year, Galvanic Energy reported the area has enough lithium to produce batteries for 50 million cars.

•   It’s not quite an immediate needle-mover for the $430 billion market cap Exxon, but it’s a way of expanding its reach to other materials while still focusing on its flagship product. Oil will remain Exxon’s bread and butter for the foreseeable future, but its new venture into lithium is kind of like adding margarine to the breakfast table.

“It’s a classic hedge against the prospect of eventually declining oil demand,” Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James, told the WSJ.

There from the Beginning: The Smackover deal marks a return to the lithium market for Exxon, which pioneered the industry roughly half a century ago. Chemist Stanley Whittingham helped develop the lithium battery while working at Exxon in the 1970s. The market proved too small at the time to justify all the research, digging, and production, but in 2019, Whittingham received a Nobel Prize for his efforts, and now lithium-ion batteries are the most popular form of energy storage." Source with more: https://thedailyupside.cmail19.com/t/t-e-zgddjy-jdttikduik-yh/