US oil giant ExxonMobil is drilling its first lithium well in southwest Arkansas, branding its product offer as “Mobil Lithium.”

Earlier this year, ExxonMobil acquired the rights to 120,000 acres in the lithium-rich Smackover formation for more than $100 million. Using direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, ExxonMobil says it will separate the lithium from underground saltwater reservoirs before reinjecting the brine deep underground.

The company will then convert the lithium into battery-grade material on-site. Kallanish understands first production is expected in 2027, though the company has not disclosed its anticipated production capacity. However, it is positioning itself to produce enough lithium to supply over 1 million electric vehicles each year by 2030.

“This project is a win-win-win,” says Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “It’s a perfect example of how ExxonMobil can enhance North American energy security, expand supplies of a critical industrial material, and enable the continued reduction of emissions associated with transportation, which is essential to meeting society’s net-zero goals.”

ExxonMobil says lithium demand is expected to quadruple by 2030, and notes that discussions with potential EV and battery manufacturing customers are ongoing. The venture is also a bit of a call-back to ExxonMobil’s history, as the company invented the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery back in the 1970s.

While this is ExxonMobil’s latest foray into critical minerals, its majority-owned subsidiary Imperial Oil invested in a DLE pilot plant with E3 Lithium in 2022. That pilot facility is located in Alberta, Canada, and became operational this past August.