Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, is set to announce a major investment push into lithium production on Wednesday. This move aims to capture part of the lithium supply chain and diversify the company’s operations beyond oil, sources close to Aramco told the Financial Times.
The lithium investment is part of a broader strategy for Aramco to become a mining hub and tap into materials critical to the energy transition, according to the sources.
In a related move, last year Saudi Arabia launched its first electric vehicle (EV) brand, Ceer, in partnership with Foxconn. The company awarded a $1.3 billion contract for the construction of its manufacturing complex in King Abdullah Economic City. Ceer aims to design, produce, and supply electric sedans and SUVs using advanced systems from Foxconn and BMW.
Saudi Arabia is actively working to diversify its revenue sources as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan. The plan includes significant investments in futuristic projects across the Saudi desert.
In September, Aramco and the Saudi start-up Lithium Infinity (Lihytech) announced a strategic collaboration to extract lithium from oilfield brine. By the end of last year, Khalid al-Mudaifer, Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister of Mining Affairs, confirmed the venture successfully extracted lithium from samples taken from Aramco’s oilfields.
“They’re building a commercial pilot at the oil fields,” Al-Mudaifer told Reuters. “The brines that come out of the field will feed into this commercial pilot on a continuous basis.”
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