Update on Smackover Brine Lithium
Oct 12, 2026
Welcome
The brine under your land in the Smackover Formation is now being valued for lithium, not just oil, gas and bromine. This report attempts to lay out the full story to date. Future updates will be added as the project progresses.
This report is written by Super Intelligence, edited by me. It is only reliable as information and ‘food for thought.’ I do not claim to be an expert, you should verify anything that looks like a fact. I am not an attorney, this is not legal or tax advice, and should not be counted on as fact.
Lithium from brine, in plain terms
The Smackover is a Jurassic-age limestone that runs under the Gulf Coast from East Texas through South Arkansas and North Louisiana to Florida. It produced oil and gas for most of the last century, and South Arkansas has pulled bromine from its salty brine for decades. That brine also carries dissolved lithium.
How the new projects work. Operators drill wells roughly 10,000 feet deep, pump brine to a surface plant through a pipeline, strip out the lithium with Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE), and reinject the spent brine into the same formation. DLE uses selective sorbents or membranes instead of the huge evaporation ponds used in Chile and Argentina, so the surface footprint looks more like an oilfield than a mine.
Why it matters to mineral owners. In Arkansas, brine is unitized and paid under its own law, separate from oil and gas leases. In Texas, the ownership of brine produced specifically for lithium is still unsettled. Those two facts drive almost every leasing conversation in this region.
Size of the prize. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Arkansas State Geologist estimated in October 2024 that the southwest Arkansas Smackover holds 5 to 19 million tons of lithium. East Texas brine tests, especially around Franklin County, have come in at some of the highest grades reported in North America.
How we got here: key dates
In under four years the Smackover went from a bromine field to a contest between two oil majors, with Arkansas setting the first lithium royalty in the U.S.
| Date | Event |
| Sep 2026 | Smackover Lithium (Standard Lithium/Equinor) publishes a preliminary economic assessment for its first East Texas project in Hopkins, Franklin and Titus counties |
| Aug 2026 | Standard Lithium reports a federal environmental clearance (FONSI) and signed construction contracts for its SWA Project; still targets a 2026 investment decision |
| Jul 2026 | Texarkana Chamber hosts its first lithium symposium; Texas researchers preparing recommendations for the 2027 Legislature |
| Mar 2026 | AOGC approves a 2.5% lithium royalty for Tetra’s Evergreen units (about 7,000 acres) — the third approval at that rate |
| Jun 2025 | Chevron enters lithium, buying about 125,000 net acres in NE Texas and SW Arkansas from TerraVolta and East Texas Natural Resources |
| Jun 2025 | AOGC approves the 2.5% royalty for ExxonMobil subsidiary Saltwerx |
| May 2025 | AOGC sets Arkansas’s first-ever lithium royalty: 2.5% for the Reynolds Brine Unit (Standard Lithium/Equinor) |
| Apr 2025 | AOGC approves Saltwerx’s large brine unit and rejects Occidental’s competing claim |
| Jan 2025 | Standard Lithium/Equinor close a $225 million DOE grant for SWA |
| Oct 2024 | USGS and the Arkansas State Geologist estimate 5–19 million tons of lithium in SW Arkansas brine |
| May 2024 | Equinor buys 45% of Standard Lithium’s Arkansas and East Texas projects |
| Nov 2023 | ExxonMobil announces its first lithium well and the Mobil Lithium brand, targeting first production in 2027 |
| Early 2023 | ExxonMobil buys about 120,000 gross acres of Smackover brine rights from Galvanic Energy for over $100 million |
| 2023 | Arkansas commission begins hearings on a lithium royalty; industry proposes ~1.8%, landowners argue for oil-and-gas-style rates |
| 2023 | Texas gives the Railroad Commission rule-making authority over brine mining |
| Decades | Albemarle and Lanxess produce bromine from Smackover brine in Union and Columbia counties under the Arkansas Brine Act |
ExxonMobil (Mobil Lithium / Saltwerx) — Southwest Arkansas
ExxonMobil holds the largest Smackover position and has its royalty and unit approvals in hand; the open question is when will it reach commercial production.
- Acreage. Bought about 120,000 gross acres from Galvanic Energy in early 2023. Industry sources now credit it with over 300,000 net acres of brine rights; the company has not broken that figure out publicly.
- Operator. Subsidiary Saltwerx LLC. The AOGC approved a roughly 56,000-acre Saltwerx brine unit in April 2025.
- Royalty. 2.5% lithium royalty approved for Saltwerx in June 2025, matching the Standard Lithium precedent.
- Tetra partnership (“Project Evergreen”). Separate joint acreage with Tetra Technologies, now about 7,000 acres in the Evergreen units, with its 2.5% royalty approved March 2026.
- Wells. First well drilled in Columbia County in late 2023 to about 10,000 feet; appraisal drilling completed in 2024.
- Customers. Has signed preliminary supply agreements with several battery producers.
- Schedule. Original target was first production in 2027 and enough lithium for over 1 million EVs a year by 2030. Regional reporting in 2026 now describes both majors working toward first commercial production around 2028; ExxonMobil has not announced a final investment decision.
*NOTE: I did not verify any of this information. Strictly AI generated, should not be used as more than information and food for thought.
Open question: has ExxonMobil formally moved its 2027 date, and where will its central processing plant be located?
Chevron — Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas
Chevron holds a larger share of its acreage in Texas, where the rules for lessors are least settled.
- Entry. On June 17, 2025, Chevron U.S.A. announced two leasehold purchases totaling about 125,000 net acres: roughly 100,000 from TerraVolta Resources and about 25,000 from East Texas Natural Resources.
- Current position. Chevron’s 2025 annual report and 2026 proxy put the position at about 135,000 net acres, so it has kept adding leases since the deal.
- Plan. Development by Direct Lithium Extraction, run through Chevron New Energies. Chevron calls this its first step toward a commercial-scale U.S. lithium business.
- Arkansas royalty. We found no Chevron royalty application before the AOGC yet. Any Arkansas production will need its own unit and royalty order.
- Texas. Texas has no statutory lithium royalty or brine unitization. Terms are set lease by lease.
- Schedule. No public production date. Spending figures for the lithium program have not been disclosed.
Other Smackover players
Standard Lithium and Equinor may be the closest to building a commercial plant; most others are at pilot or study stage.
| Company | Area | Status (Oct 2026) | Target |
| Smackover Lithium (Standard Lithium 55% / Equinor 45%) — SWA Project | Reynolds Brine Unit, Lafayette & Columbia Cos., AR (20,000+ acres) | Federal FONSI received; construction contracts signed; Trafigura offtake agreement secured; $225 million DOE grant awarded; more than $1 billion in debt financing interest; FID expected in late 2026 | 22,500 t/yr lithium carbonate, first production 2029 |
| Smackover Lithium — Franklin Project | Hopkins, Franklin & W. Titus Cos., TX | Preliminary economic assessment released Sept 2026 | Goal of 100,000+ t/yr across Texas phases |
| Tetra Technologies (with ExxonMobil) | Evergreen units, ~7,000 acres, AR | 2.5% royalty approved Mar 2026; bromine first, then lithium | Not stated |
| EnergyX — Project Lonestar | ~47,500 acres, TX & AR; demo plant in Hooks, Bowie Co., TX | Running a DOE-backed demonstration plant producing battery-grade product | 12,500 t/yr by 2028 |
| GeoFrame Energy | Mount Vernon, Franklin Co., TX | Groundbreaking pushed past 2026. | 83,000+ t/yr lithium carbonate |
| TerraVolta | Miller Co., AR / Texarkana area | Sold its acreage to Chevron; planned refinery project reported | — |
| Albemarle, Lanxess | Union & Columbia Cos., AR | Long-time bromine producers; filed in the royalty proceeding | — |
Royalties and regulation
Arkansas pays brine owners a fixed 2.5% lithium royalty on top of an acreage fee; Texas leaves every term to private negotiation until the Legislature acts.
Arkansas (Oil and Gas Commission, under the Brine Act)
- The rate is 2.5% of the indexed market value of standard-grade lithium carbonate equivalent. It is paid in addition to the existing annual brine fee of $65.05 per acre.
- Smackover Lithium estimates the combined payment at about 3% of value at recent lithium prices.
- Three operators now hold the same 2.5% rate: Smackover Lithium (May 2025), Saltwerx/ExxonMobil (June 2025) and Tetra (March 2026). The commission has framed the matching rates as a consistency policy.
- During the hearings, producers proposed about 1.8% and landowner groups argued for 11–12%, comparable to oil and gas. The final number landed far closer to industry’s ask.
- Brine is unitized: an owner inside an approved unit is paid on a pro-rata acreage basis whether or not a well sits on the tract.
Texas (Railroad Commission)
- The Railroad Commission gained brine-mining rule authority in 2023 and permits wells under oil-and-gas-style rules. Spent brine must go back into the same formation.
- There is no statutory lithium royalty. Royalty, acreage and surface terms are set in each lease.
- Ownership of brine produced for lithium, rather than as an oil-and-gas byproduct, has not been settled by statute or court ruling.
- University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology researchers plan to give lawmakers recommendations on royalties and water rights by year-end, ahead of the 2027 session.
Louisiana
The Smackover extends under North Louisiana. Brine sampling began there in 2025.
Beyond the Smackover: the national picture
The Smackover is now the leading U.S. brine-lithium play, and its main rival, California’s Salton Sea, has hit legal headwinds.
- Salton Sea, California (“Lithium Valley”). Three geothermal-brine efforts: EnergySource Minerals (Project ATLiS), Controlled Thermal Resources (Hell’s Kitchen) and Berkshire Hathaway’s BHE Renewables. A state appeals court sent Hell’s Kitchen’s environmental review back to Imperial County over water supply and air quality. The California Energy Commission held another Lithium Valley workshop on Sept. 10, 2026.
- Nevada. Silver Peak remains the only operating U.S. lithium brine site, using traditional evaporation ponds. Thacker Pass, a hard-rock clay project, expects mechanical completion in late 2027.
- Federal policy. Washington continues to back domestic critical-mineral supply: DOE grants to Standard Lithium and EnergyX, interest from the U.S. Export-Import Bank in SWA debt, and an August 2026 White House push on new mining deals.
- Price. Lithium carbonate weakness in 2024–2025 slowed several projects. Some forecasters raised 2026 estimates to around $20,000 per ton. Price is the single biggest swing factor in project economics, and in what a 2.5% royalty actually pays.
What lessors should know now
In Arkansas the royalty is effectively set, so the value is in unit inclusion and accurate ownership; in Texas everything is still on the table. Watch the price basis; royalties are tied to a lithium carbonate index, so payments will move with the market more than oil royalties do. Expect long timelines; no Smackover project has reached commercial production. The earliest firm target is 2029 for Standard Lithium’s SWA Project.
What to watch for the Next edition
- Standard Lithium/Equinor final investment decision on the SWA Project
- Any ExxonMobil update on first-production timing or a processing-plant site
- Chevron well permits, pilot work or an AOGC unit filing
- New brine unit or royalty applications before the AOGC
- Texas Bureau of Economic Geology recommendations to the Legislature
- Lithium carbonate price trend
*NOTE: I did not verify any of this information. Strictly AI generated, should not be used as more than information and food for thought.