Oil, gas companies seeking underground metals needed to make electric vehicle batteries

Oil and gas companies are ramping up investments in extracting brine, a solution found underground as a source of lithium – a metal that is widely used for rechargeable batteries, particularly those found in electric vehicles.

According to a report from Energy Wire, lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite demand is skyrocketing as production of electric vehicles increases. Earlier this year, Exxon Mobil’s CEO Darren Woods announced that the company is “actively exploring” options for lithium mining. 

Chevron is also considering going down the lithium route, but has not laid out specific plans yet, Bloomberg reports.

While there has been some pushback to America being on a fast track to an electric vehicle future due to fear of potential job loss for those in the oil and gas industry, some experts have argued more jobs would be produced. 

Chevron told E&E News in a statement that this technology to mine lithium would “operate more efficiently, lower carbon intensity and launch viable new businesses.” 

Some concerns regarding extracting metals include water pollution as a result of conventional mining, greenhouse gas emissions from the gasoline-burning machinery, and the respiratory issues for people in the area, according to Earth.org.

Conventional mining emits a high volume of carbon emitted in the process. MIT’s Climate Portal states that mining one metric ton of lithium results in emitting 15 times that same volume of CO2. Lithium itself is highly toxic, according to the National Institute of Health's Library of Medicine. 

There has been an active push over the past two years to push America to use electric cars and move away from oil and gas, mostly due to climate change concerns. 

"We're going to transition to an electric vehicle future made in America—and it will protect and expand good union jobs," President Biden wrote on X, previously Twitter on Tuesday. 

Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, said that the transition to electric vehicles will be a long one. "Speaking as the owner of an electric vehicle myself, I can tell you that it's going to be a very, very long transition," Stewart told Just the News. 

"The charging infrastructure anywhere outside of a major metropolitan area is so weak and undependable," he continued. "Those early EV adopters now find themselves in the trough of disillusionment where the EV promises have not come to fruition. There are 286 million passenger vehicles in the US today.  We can't even support the 2 million EV's on the road right now, let alone the four million semi trucks that keep us fed and clothed and supplied each day. Fortunately my industry's going to be around for a long long time to support this transition if it ever happens at all."

This week, a deposit of lithium recently discovered along the Nevada-Oregon border may be among the world’s largest, having potentially huge implications for the transition to electric vehicles, according to Fox Business News.