ADVERTISEABOUT USSUBMIT A STORYSUBSCRIBETERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY
Visit our family of Brands

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.

From Your Site Articles
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.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Top 5 trending Houston energy transition this week

top stories

Editor's note: From Caliche Development Partners finding fresh funding for a Beaumont plant to an energy transition SPAC going public, these are the top headlines that resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter this week.

Houston energy co. accelerates Beaumont storage expansion after key investment deal

Houston-based Caliche Development Partners begins doubling natural gas storage capacity and building the world’s largest helium cavern, fueled by a key Texas deal completion. Photo courtesy of Caliche

With the acquisition of its Texas business now complete, Houston-based Caliche Development Partners is moving ahead with expansion of a natural gas storage project in Beaumont.

This milestone comes after a previously announced majority investment in Caliche by New York City-based investment firm Sixth Street, which has offices in Houston, Austin, and Dallas. Sixth Street recently closed on the Texas portion of the deal, and it expects to wrap up the California portion of the deal in mid-2025. Continue reading.

CenterPoint’s Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative makes advancements on progress

The GHRI Phase Two will lead to more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually, according to CenterPoint. Photo via centerpoint.com

CenterPoint Energy has released the first of its public progress updates on the actions being taken throughout the Greater Houston 12-county area, which is part of Phase Two of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.

The GHRI Phase Two will lead to more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually, according to CenterPoint. Continue reading.

Houston group secures contract for major clean ammonia project in Louisiana

Houston global engineering firm McDermott will design a Louisiana project to produce millions of tons of clean ammonia. Image via cleanhydrogenworks.com

Houston-headquartered McDermott has received a new contract on a Louisiana clean ammonia project.

Clean energy development company Clean Hydrogen Works tapped McDermott for the front-end engineering and design contract for the Ascension Clean Energy Project. ACE — located in Ascension Parish, Louisiana — is jointly developed by CHW with strategic shareholders ExxonMobil, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Hafnia and is expected to initially produce 2.4 million metric tons per annum of clean ammonia and expand to total 7.2 million metric tons per annum production down the road. Continue reading.

Houston energy SPAC goes public through IPO

Houston-based CO2 Energy Transition Corp., a SPAC focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), raised $69 million in its IPO to target mid-sized CCUS companies. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based CO2 Energy Transition Corp. — a “blank check” company initially targeting the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) sector — closed November 22 on its IPO, selling 6 million units at $10 apiece.

“Blank check” companies are formally known as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). A SPAC aims to complete a merger, acquisition, share exchange, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination in certain business sectors. CO2 Energy Transition will target companies valued at $150 million to $250 million. Continue reading.

Houston's hydrogen revolution gets up to $1.2B federal boost to power Gulf Coast’s clean energy future

The U.S. Department of Energy funding is earmarked for the new HyVelocity Hub. Photo via Getty Images

The emerging low-carbon hydrogen ecosystem in Houston and along the Texas Gulf Coast is getting as much as a $1.2 billion lift from the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Energy funding, announced November 20, is earmarked for the new HyVelocity Hub. The hub — backed by energy companies, schools, nonprofits, and other organizations — will serve the country’s biggest hydrogen-producing area. The region earns that status thanks to more than 1,000 miles of dedicated hydrogen pipelines and almost 50 hydrogen production plants. Continue reading.

Texas thrives as No. 1 best state for homesteading and gardening

lone star state

If social media is any indicator, homesteading has been one of the hottest trends of 2024. And Texas is leading the charge as the No. 1 best state for homesteading and gardening, according to a new report by First Saturday Lime.

Analysts at First Saturday Lime, an insect repellant company featured on Shark Tank, evaluated the "suitability for sustainable living" across all 50 states based on six factors: Climate, community interest (a.k.a online search trends), gardening resources, farmland costs, and others.

The Lone Star State led the nation with the most farms and ranches on the market and the highest total acreage for sale. As of the study's publication, there were 7,520 total properties for sale, spanning more than 2.19 million acres of land.

Texas also ranked favorably for its farmland affordability. The state came in at No. 9 nationally with its average farmland price coming out to $2,800 per acre, the report said.

For comparison, New Mexico (which ranked No. 11 overall) had the most affordable average price per acre of farmland at just $700 per acre. Massachusetts (No. 48) and Connecticut (No. 42), however, tied for the most expensive price per acre, at $14,300.

Among the three remaining categories in the study, Texas performed the worst for its "gardens on Yelp per capita" rank. The study calculated Texas has 0.30 gardening and community garden establishments on Yelp per capita, placing Texas at No. 49.

Meanwhile, Texas' historically hot weather meant it ranked No. 43 out of all 50 states in the "favorable climate" rank, and the state earned a middle-of-the-road No. 35 rank in the "search interest per capita" category.

"Homesteading and gardening are growing in popularity, but some states provide better opportunities than others," the report's author wrote. "Whether you're after fresh produce or the freedom of self-sufficiency, choosing the right state can make all the difference."

Following behind Texas to complete the top three best states for homesteading and gardening are Oregon (No. 2) and Washington (No. 3), two notoriously rainy West Coast states.

Meanwhile, three East Coast states ranked at the bottom of the list as the worst states for homesteading and gardening: Rhode Island (No. 50), New Jersey (No. 49), and Massachusetts (No. 48).

The top 10 best states for homesteading and gardening are:

  • No. 1 – Texas
  • No. 2 – Oregon
  • No. 3 – Washington
  • No. 4 – Vermont
  • No. 5 – Delaware
  • No. 6 – Arizona
  • No. 7 – Wyoming
  • No. 8 – Montana
  • No. 9 – Hawaii
  • No. 10 – Colorado

The study sourced its data from Yelp, Google Trends, and the UDSA to determine each state's ranking.

———

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Houston researchers develop catalyst for emission-free hydrogen production using light instead of heat

switch flipped

Researchers at Rice University have developed a catalyst that could render steam methane reforming, or SMR, entirely emission-free by using light rather than heat to drive the reaction.

The researchers believe the work could prove to be a breakthrough for extending catalyst lifetimes. This will improve efficiencies and reduce costs for a number of industrial processes that are affected by a form of carbon buildup that can deactivate catalysts called coking.

The new copper-rhodium photocatalyst uses an antenna-reactor design. When it is exposed to a specific wavelength of light it breaks down methane and water vapor without external heating into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The importance of this is it is a chemical industry feedstock that is not a greenhouse gas. Rice’s work also shows that the antenna-reactor technology can overcome catalyst deactivation due to oxidation and coking by employing hot carriers to remove oxygen species and carbon deposits, which effectively regenerates the catalyst with light.

The new SMR reaction pathway build off a 2011 discovery from Peter Nordlander, Rice’s Wiess Chair and Professor of Physics and Astronomy and professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and nanoengineering, and Naomi Halas. They are the authors on the study about the research that was published in Nature Catalysis. The study showed that the collective oscillations of electrons that occur when metal nanoparticles are exposed to light can emit “hot carriers” or high-energy electrons and holes that can be used to drive chemical reactions.

“This is one of our most impactful findings so far, because it offers an improved alternative to what is arguably the most important chemical reaction for modern society,” Norlander says in a news release.

The research was supported by Robert A. Welch Foundation (C-1220, C-1222) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-15-1-0022) with the Shared Equipment Authority at Rice providing data analysis support.

“This research showcases the potential for innovative photochemistry to reshape critical industrial processes, moving us closer to an environmentally sustainable energy future,” Halas adds.

Hydrogen has been studied as it could assist with the transition to a sustainable energy ecosystem, but the chemical process responsible for more than half of the current global hydrogen production is a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions.Hydrogen is produced in large facilities that require the gas to be transported to its point of use. Light-driven SMR allows for on-demand hydrogen generation,which researchers believe is a key benefit for use in mobility-related applications like hydrogen fueling stations or and possibly vehicles.

View All Listings