ExxonMobil names new partner to bolster US lithium supply chain with offtake agreement

ev supplies en route

LG Chem’s Tennessee cathode plant, which began construction in December 2023, is designed for an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons and provides strategic geographic access for customer deliveries and raw material imports. Rendering via ExxonMobil

Spring-headquartered ExxonMobil Corp. has announced a new MOU for an offtake agreement for up to 100,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate.

The agreement is with LG Chem, which is building its cathode plant in Tennessee and expects it to be the largest of its kind in the country. The project broke ground a year ago and expects an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons. The lithium will be supplied by ExxonMobil.

“America needs secure domestic supply of critical minerals like lithium,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says in a news release. “ExxonMobil is proud to lead the way in establishing domestic lithium production, creating jobs, driving economic growth, and enhancing energy security here in the United States.”

The industry currently has a lithium supply shortage due to the material's use in electric vehicle batteries and the fact that most of production happens overseas.

“Building a lithium supply chain with ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest energy companies, holds great significance,” Shin Hak-cheol, CEO of LG Chem, adds. “We will continue to strengthen LG Chem’s competitiveness in the global supply chain for critical minerals.”

Per the release, the final investment decision is still pending.

Earlier this year, Exxon entered into another energy transition partnership, teaming up with Japan’s Mitsubishi to potentially produce low-carbon ammonia and nearly carbon-free hydrogen at ExxonMobil’s facility in Baytown.

Last month, the company announced it had signed the biggest offshore carbon dioxide storage lease in the U.S. ExxonMobil says the more than 271,000-acre site, being leased from the Texas General Land Office, complements the onshore CO2 storage portfolio that it’s assembling.

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The offshore site is adjacent to a CO2 pipeline network that ExxonMobil acquired in 2023 with its $4.9 billion purchase of Plano-based Denbury Resources. Photo via ExxonMobil.com

ExxonMobil signs biggest offshore CCS lease in the U.S.

big deal

Spring-based ExxonMobil continues to ramp up its carbon capture and storage business with a new offshore lease and a new CCS customer.

On October 10, ExxonMobil announced it had signed the biggest offshore carbon dioxide storage lease in the U.S. ExxonMobil says the more than 271,000-acre site, being leased from the Texas General Land Office, complements the onshore CO2 storage portfolio that it’s assembling.

“This is yet another sign of our commitment to CCS and the strides we’ve been able to make,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says in a news release.

The offshore site is adjacent to a CO2 pipeline network that ExxonMobil acquired in 2023 with its $4.9 billion purchase of Plano-based Denbury Resources.

Ammann told Forbes that when it comes to available acreage in the Gulf Coast, this site is “the largest and most attractive from a geological point of view.”

The initial customer for the newly purchased site will be Northbrook, Illinois-based CF Industries, Forbes reported.

This summer, ExxonMobil sealed a deal to remove up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 each year from CF’s nitrogen plant in Yazoo City, Mississippi. CF has earmarked about $100 million to build a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at the plant.

A couple of days before the lease announcement, Ammann said in a LinkedIn post that ExxonMobil had agreed to transport and annually store up to 1.2 metric tons of CO2 from the $1.6 billion New Generation Gas Gathering (NG3) pipeline project in Louisiana. Houston-based Momentum Midstream is developing NG3, which will collect and treat natural gas produced in Texas and Louisiana and deliver it to Gulf Coast markets.

This is ExxonMobil’s first CCS deal with a natural gas processor and fifth CCS deal agreement overall. To date, ExxonMobil has contracts in place for storage of up to 6.7 metric tons of CO2 per year.

“I’m proud that even more industries are choosing our #CCS solutions to meet their emissions reduction goals,” Ammann wrote on LinkedIn.

ExxonMobil says it operates the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S.

“The most fundamental thing we’re focused on is making sure the CO2 is stored safely and securely,” Ammann told Forbes in addressing fears that captured CO2 could seep back into the atmosphere.

The off-take agreement will provide SK On with ExxonMobil's lithium produced in Arkansas. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil enters into off-take agreement with EV battery manufacturer

it's a deal

ExxonMobil has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with South Korean electric vehicle battery developer SK On.

The deal aims to secure a multiyear off-take agreement of up to 100,000 metric tons of MobilTM Lithium from the company’s first planned project in Arkansas. SK On will use the lithium in its EV battery manufacturing operations in the United States, which will contribute to ExxonMobil’s 2023 goal of supplying lithium for nearly 1 million EV batteries annually by 2030, and also assist in the build out of a U.S. EV supply chain.

The Arkansas project proposes an extraction of lithium from underground saltwater deposits and converting it into battery-grade material onsite. The approach will produce lithium more efficiently and with fewer environmental impacts than traditional hard rock mining, according to ExxonMobil. Consumer electronics, energy storage systems, and other clean energy technologies have all shown increased use in lithium needs.

The planned production of MobilTM Lithium will use ExxonMobil's core capabilities in drilling, subsurface exploration, and chemical processing, which should offer U.S. EV battery manufacturers a lower-carbon lithium supply option.

“The world needs more lithium to support its emissions goals, and we're doing our part to drive solutions forward in the United States,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says in a news release. “This collaboration with SK On demonstrates the leading role we play in the growing market for domestically sourced lithium, a market that’s advancing energy security and climate objectives, as well as supporting American manufacturing."

The annual production capacity of SK On in the U.S. alone is expected to reach more than 180 GWh in 2025. That production is enough to power around 1.7 million EVs per year.

“Through this partnership with ExxonMobil, we will continue strengthening battery supply chains in the U.S.,” Park Jong-jin, executive vice president of Strategic Procurement at SK On, adds.

The Houston-based executive makes the list of along with John Kerry, Bill Gates, and more. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solution president makes inaugural TIME100 Climate list

big praise

A Houston energy executive has made the cut on an inaugural ranking of top climate action leaders.

TIME magazine’s first-ever TIME100 Climate list, which highlights “100 of the world’s most influential leaders driving climate action in business,” and ExxonMobil’s president of Low Carbon Solution business Dan Ammann has made it onto the list.

“The real credit goes to the ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions team for the progress we’ve made so far,“ Amann says in a LinkedIn post. “It’s great to see the world recognizing that ExxonMobil has a major role to play in accelerating the world’s path to net zero.”

The list also includes John Kerry, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate; Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy Ventures; and others.

Some of ExxonMobil’s recent highlights include the announcement of a plan to become a leading supplier of lithium to support electric vehicles, reaching a new milestone in the volume of CO2 emissions that the company agreed to store for industrial customers along the U.S. Gulf Coast – up to 5 million metric tons per year, expanded ability to further reduce emissions by acquiring the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S.C, and working on building the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen plant in Baytown, which is outside of Houston.

“It’s great to be included in this prestigious list and I’m proud of the team’s efforts to advance real solutions that will help reduce the world’s emissions,” Ammann says in ExxonMobil's news release.

He joined ExxonMobil in 2022 following a career in Silicon Valley as CEO of Cruise, as well as stops in Detroit as president of General Motors and on Wall Street when he was managing director at Morgan Stanley.

The rig stands 225 feet tall and extends 8,000 feet below the subsurface. Photo via exxonmobil.com

ExxonMobil breaks ground on Texas carbon dioxide storage project

digging in

ExxonMobil announced this month that it has officially broken ground on a groundbreaking carbon dioxide storage site.

According to a release from the company, a new rig is currently being used to gather information about an underground site in Southeast Texas. The rig stands 225 feet tall, but more importantly extends 8,000 feet below the subsurface to investigate if the site is a safe place to store carbon underground.

“Everyone’s excited about this appraisal well because we’re literally breaking ground on a new chapter of our work to help reduce industrial emissions,” Joe Colletti, who oversees carbon capture and storage development along the Gulf Coast for Exxon, says in a statement.

Exxon plans to move the rig to other sites in the Gulf Coast in the future for clients Nucor Corp., CF Industries and Linde.

In the last year, Exxon has made agreements with these regional companies to store carbon captured from their operations.

Exxon agreed to transport and permanently store up to 2.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year from Linde’s hydrogen production facility in Beaumont, Texas when it launches in 2025.
Exxon agreed to store up to 2 million metric tons per year of CO2 captured from CF Industries’ ammonia plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, starting in 2025.
Exxon agreed to capture, transport and store up to 800,000 metric tons per year of CO2 from Nucor’s direct reduced iron manufacturing site in Convent, Louisiana starting in 2026.

Together, the three agreements represent a total of 5 million metric tons per year that Exxon plans to transport and store for third-party customers.

“Our agreement with Nucor is the latest example of how we’re delivering on our mission to help accelerate the world's path to net zero and build a compelling new business,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says in a statement over the summer. “Momentum is building as customers recognize our ability to solve emission challenges at scale.”

In addition to the carbon storage agreements, the energy giant also completed the acquisition of Denbury Inc. this month in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.9 billion. The deal adds more than 1,300 miles, including nearly 925 miles of CO2 pipelines in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi to Exxon's CO2 pipeline network.

The deal was first announced this summer.

ExxonMobil has placed a big bet on the carbon capture market. Photo via exxonmobil.com

Newly Houston-headquartered ExxonMobil acquires carbon capture company in $4.9B deal

M&A Moves

Spring-based energy giant ExxonMobil is making a nearly $5 billion bet on its future in the carbon capture sector.

ExxonMobil announced July 13 that it has agreed to buy Plano-based Denbury, a publicly traded company specializing in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), in an all-stock deal valued at $4.9 billion. The deal’s value is based on ExxonMobil’s July 12 closing stock price — $89.45 per share.

Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, says the pending acquisition of Denbury “reflects our determination to profitably grow” his company’s low-carbon business unit.

The deal will give ExxonMobil the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S. at 1,300 miles, including nearly 925 miles in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, along with 10 onshore carbon sequestration sites.

Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says Denbury’s CO2 infrastructure “provides significant opportunities to expand and accelerate ExxonMobil’s low-carbon leadership across our Gulf Coast value chains.”

“Once fully developed and optimized,” Ammann adds, “this combination of assets and capabilities has the potential to profitably reduce emissions by more than 100 million metric tons per year in one of the highest-emitting regions of the U.S.”

ExxonMobil explains that CCUS — when carbon dioxide is captured and stored deep underground instead of being released into the atmosphere — is viewed as critical to meeting net-zero goals. The company forecasts the global market for CCUS will catapult to $4 trillion by 2050. Houston-based consulting firm Rystad Energy predicts total spending on CCUS projects in 2023 will reach $7.4 billion.

In addition to Denbury’s CCUS assets, the deal with ExxonMobil includes Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain oil and natural gas operations. These assets consist of reserves exceeding the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil, with 47,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day of current production.

Directors at ExxonMobil and Denbury have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Denbury, founded in 1951, posted $1.7 billion in revenue last year, up from 36 percent from 2021.

Chris Kendall, president and CEO of Denbury, launched his oil and gas career at Mobil Oil. Mobil merged with Exxon in 1999 to form the country’s largest oil and gas company, which just made official its headquarters relocation from Irving to Spring.

ExxonMobil generated revenue of nearly $413.7 billion in 2022, making it one of the country’s biggest publicly traded companies.

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Houston microgrid company names new CEO

new hire

Houston-based electric microgrid company Enchanted Rock has named a new CEO.

John Carrington has assumed the role after serving as Enchanted Rock's executive chairman since June, the company announced earlier this month.

Carrington most recently was CEO of Houston-based Stem, which offers AI-enabled software and services designed for setting up and operating clean energy facilities. He stepped down as Stem’s CEO in September 2024. Stem, which was founded in 2006 and went public under Carrington's leadership in 2021, was previously based in San Francisco.

Carrington has also held senior leadership roles at Miasolé, First Solar and GE.

Corey Amthor has served as acting CEO of Enchanted Rock since June. He succeeded Enchanted Rock founder Thomas McAndrew in the role, with McAndrew staying on with the company as a strategic advisor and board member. With the hiring of Carrington, Amthor has returned to his role as president. According to the company, Amthor and Carrington will "partner to drive the company’s next phase of growth."

“I’m proud to join a leadership team known for technical excellence and execution, and with our company-wide commitment to innovation, we are well positioned to navigate this moment of unprecedented demand and advance our mission alongside our customers nationwide,” Carrington said in the news release. “Enchanted Rock’s technology platform delivers resilient, clean and scalable ultra-low-emissions onsite power that solves some of the most urgent challenges facing our country today. I’m energized by the strong momentum and growing market demand for our solutions, and we remain committed to providing data centers and other critical sectors with the reliable power essential to their operations.”

This summer, Enchanted Rock also announced that Ian Blakely would reassume the role of CFO at the company. He previously served as chief strategy officer. Paul Froutan, Enchanted Rock's former CTO, was also named COO last year.

6 major acquisitions that fueled the Houston energy sector in 2025

2025 In Review

Editor's note: As 2025 comes to a close, we're revisiting the biggest headlines and major milestones of the energy transition sector this year. Here are six major acquisitions that fueled the Houston energy industry in 2025:

Houston-based Calpine Corp. to be acquired in clean energy megadeal

Houston's Calpine Corp. will be acquired by Baltimore-based nuclear power company Constellation Energy Corp. Photo via DOE

In January 2025, Baltimore-based nuclear power company Constellation Energy Corp. and Houston-based Calpine Corp. entered into an agreement where Constellation would acquire Calpine in a cash and stock transaction with an overall net purchase price of $26.6 billion. The deal received final regulatory clearance this month.

Investment giant to acquire TXNM Energy for $11.5 billion

Blackstone Infrastructure, an affiliate of Blackstone Inc., will acquire a major Texas electricity provider. Photo via Shutterstock

In May 2025, Blackstone Infrastructure, an investment giant with $600 million in assets under management, agreed to buy publicly traded TXNM Energy in a debt-and-stock deal valued at $11.5 billion. The deal recently cleared a major regulatory hurdle, but still must be approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Houston's Rhythm Energy expands nationally with clean power acquisition

PJ Popovic, founder and CEO of Houston-based Rhythm Energy, which has acquired Inspire Clean Energy. Photo courtesy of Rhythm

Houston-based Rhythm Energy Inc. acquired Inspire Clean Energy in June 2025 for an undisclosed amount. The deal allowed Rhythm to immediately scale outside of Texas and into the Northeast, Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions.

Houston American Energy closes acquisition of New York low-carbon fuel co.

Houston American Energy Corp. has acquired Abundia Global Impact Group, which converts plastic and certified biomass waste into high-quality renewable fuels. Photo via Getty Images.

Renewable energy company Houston American Energy Corp. (NYSE: HUSA) acquired Abundia Global Impact Group in July 2025. The acquisition created a combined company focused on converting waste plastics into high-value, drop-in, low-carbon fuels and chemical products.

Chevron gets green light on $53 billion Hess acquisition

With the deal, Chevron gets access to one of the biggest oil finds of the decade. Photo via Chevron

In July 2025, Houston-based Chevron scored a critical ruling in Paris that provided the go-ahead for a $53 billion acquisition of Hess and access to one of the biggest oil finds of the decade. Chevron completed its acquisition of Hess shortly after the ruling from the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

Investors close partial acquisition of Phillips 66 subsidiary with growing EV network

Two investment firms have scooped up the majority stake in JET, a subsidiary of Phillips 66 with a rapidly growing EV charging network. Photo via Jet.de Facebook.

In December 2025, Energy Equation Partners, a London-based investment firm focused on clean energy companies, and New York-based Stonepeak completed the acquisition of a 65 percent interest in JET Tankstellen Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of Houston oil and gas giant Phillips 66.

Houston researchers develop energy-efficient film for AI chips

AI research

A team of researchers at the University of Houston has developed an innovative thin-film material that they believe will make AI devices faster and more energy efficient.

AI data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and use large cooling systems to operate, adding a strain on overall energy consumption.

“AI has made our energy needs explode,” Alamgir Karim, Dow Chair and Welch Foundation Professor at the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UH, explained in a news release. “Many AI data centers employ vast cooling systems that consume large amounts of electricity to keep the thousands of servers with integrated circuit chips running optimally at low temperatures to maintain high data processing speed, have shorter response time and extend chip lifetime.”

In a report recently published in ACS Nano, Karim and a team of researchers introduced a specialized two-dimensional thin film dielectric, or electric insulator. The film, which does not store electricity, could be used to replace traditional, heat-generating components in integrated circuit chips, which are essential hardware powering AI.

The thinner film material aims to reduce the significant energy cost and heat produced by the high-performance computing necessary for AI.

Karim and his former doctoral student, Maninderjeet Singh, used Nobel prize-winning organic framework materials to develop the film. Singh, now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, developed the materials during his doctoral training at UH, along with Devin Shaffer, a UH professor of civil engineering, and doctoral student Erin Schroeder.

Their study shows that dielectrics with high permittivity (high-k) store more electrical energy and dissipate more energy as heat than those with low-k materials. Karim focused on low-k materials made from light elements, like carbon, that would allow chips to run cooler and faster.

The team then created new materials with carbon and other light elements, forming covalently bonded sheetlike films with highly porous crystalline structures using a process known as synthetic interfacial polymerization. Then they studied their electronic properties and applications in devices.

According to the report, the film was suitable for high-voltage, high-power devices while maintaining thermal stability at elevated operating temperatures.

“These next-generation materials are expected to boost the performance of AI and conventional electronics devices significantly,” Singh added in the release.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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