Occidental Take Lithium Leap With Berkshire Hathaway's Subsidiary

Occidental Petroleum Corporation OXY shares are trading lower today. The company’s subsidiary, TerraLithium, inked a joint venture deal with BHE Renewables to develop technology for extracting high-purity lithium from geothermal brine.

The companies plan to demonstrate and deploy TerraLithium’s Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) and associated technologies to extract and commercially produce high-purity lithium compounds.

Notably, BHE Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.‘s BRK energy unit.

BHE Renewables operates ten geothermal power plants in California’s Imperial Valley, which process 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich brine per minute to produce 345 megawatts of clean energy.

The joint venture started a project at BHE Renewables’ Imperial Valley geothermal facility to show the feasibility of using the TerraLithium DLE technology to produce lithium environmentally safely.

Richard Jackson, President, U.S. Onshore Resources and Carbon Management, Operations at Occidental, said, “By leveraging Occidental’s expertise in managing and processing brine in our oil and gas and chemicals businesses, combined with BHE Renewables’ deep knowledge in geothermal operations, we are uniquely positioned to advance a more sustainable form of lithium production.” 

As per the International Renewable Energy Agency, demand for lithium, particularly in batteries, is expected to skyrocket tenfold by 2030, which aligns with the projected growth in battery demand.

Jeff Alvarez, President and General Manager of TerraLithium, stated, “The partnership with BHE Renewables will enable the joint venture to accelerate the development of our Direct Lithium Extraction and associated technologies and advance them toward commercial lithium production.”

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Texas Capital Funds Trust Texas Capital Texas Oil Index ETF OILT and First Trust Nasdaq Oil & Gas ETF FTXN.

Also Read: Occidental Petroleum Could Offer ‘Minimal Shareholder Return’: Analyst

Price Action: OXY shares are down 1.81% at $59.47 at the last check Tuesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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