Key facts
- ExxonMobil holds more than 400,000 net acres in the Smackover Formation and plans a pilot project in 2027.
- Chevron bought a 125,000-acre plot in the formation the year before the report.
- Standard Lithium is expected to authorize its South West Arkansas Project late in 2026, with a 22,500-ton first phase.
- EnergyX aims to begin construction on its 15,000-ton Project Lonestar facility by the end of 2027.
- Wood Mackenzie expects China to control 39 percent of world lithium production by 2030.
ExxonMobil holds the single-largest position in the Smackover Formation, a lithium-bearing reserve spanning southern Arkansas and East Texas, at more than 400,000 net acres, according to a Fortune report published November 10. The company plans to start a pilot project in 2027. Chevron bought a 125,000-acre plot in the formation the previous year.
The formation is drawing interest as lithium demand grows. Global lithium demand has risen more than 400 percent over the course of the decade to top 1.5 million metric tons per year, and could reach approximately 4 million tons by 2035, the report said, citing the International Energy Agency's Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026. The IEA expects no mineral to see bigger demand growth.
China dominates processing and ownership. Beijing controls an estimated 72 percent of the global lithium-ion market, Chinese companies control a quarter of the world's lithium mining capacity, and more than 80 percent of battery cells were made in China in 2024, the report said. Wood Mackenzie expects China to control 39 percent of world lithium production by 2030.
"Lithium production and lithium ownership are increasingly diverging, and it is reshaping the global critical mineral supply chains," said Allan Pedersen, research director for energy transition and battery materials at Wood Mackenzie. "While production growth is becoming more geographically diverse, ownership remains concentrated among a relatively small group of companies, mostly led by China."
The United States produces just over 1 percent of world lithium supplies, much of it from Albemarle's Silver Peak mine in Nevada, the report said. Standard Lithium CEO David Park told Fortune the formation is "a geologic freak with its very high lithium concentrations" and said the company believes its lands alone could support more than 150,000 tons per year of production. Standard Lithium is expected to authorize its South West Arkansas Project late in 2026 and break ground on an initial 22,500-ton phase in the first quarter of 2027.
In late August, LG Energy Solution signed a decade-long deal to buy 8,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually from Smackover Lithium starting in 2029. Standard's competitor EnergyX opened a 250-ton pilot plant earlier in 2026 and aims to begin construction on its 15,000-ton Project Lonestar commercial facility by the end of 2027.
Max Yerrill, a critical minerals analyst at BMO Capital Markets, told Fortune it is yet to be proven whether the lithium in the Smackover is economic to extract. "But I think it makes sense," he said. "You're not planning for one year out. These are 25-year projects. You have to look way down the road."