据海上工程网6月26日报道，锂价格的上涨吸引了几家大型油气公司进入锂市场。Equinor、埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)、西方石油公司(Occidental Petroleum)和斯伦贝谢(Schlumberger)等公司正在研究如何将泵送和加工的关键技术用于锂的加工。

随着世界向电气化迈进，锂的需求达到了新的高度，各油气公司正在努力实现业务多样化，以确保未来的安全。

据报道，埃克森美孚公司斥资超过1亿美元购买了含有锂的油田卤水，而Equinor公司在2021年入股了法国锂业公司。西方石油公司也在探索这一领域，因为它参股了锂技术集团TerraLithium。

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石油公司的大部分兴趣来自开发围绕直接锂提取（DLE）的技术，这是一种锂提取方法，与目前的技术相比，可以大大加快提取时间。目前的提取方法可回收约40%～60%的可用锂，而DLE的回收率为60%～80%。然而，这项技术目前尚未得到大规模验证，需要更多的研究和开发才能将其实现商业化。

投资于美国锂矿技术的公司有资格通过该国的《通胀削减法案》（IRA）获得补贴，这使得对内华达州和犹他州目前正在进行的DLE项目投资成为一项有吸引力的提议。

矿业投资基金TechMet首席执行官布莱恩·梅内尔(Brian Menell)表示，油气公司每天使用的工业技能，使他们成为进军锂矿市场的理想人选。

他称，这是石油公司的自然演变。锂盐是一个明显的例子，因为与充电网络和风力发电场不同，它们除了项目管理之外没有其他技能，它们擅长地下泵送和流体运输。

郝芬 译自 海上工程网

原文如下:

Oil and gas companies rush into lithium

Rising lithium prices are luring several major oil and gas companies towards the lithium market. Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum and Schlumberger are among the companies examining how key technologies around pumping and processing could be used in the processing of lithium.

With lithium demand reaching new heights as the world moves to electrification, oil and gas companies are trying to diversify their operations to ensure their future security.

ExxonMobil reportedly spent more than $100m purchasing oilfield brines containing lithium, while Equinor took a stake in Lithium de France in 2021. Occidental is also exploring the field, as it jointly owns lithium technology group TerraLithium.

Much of the interest by oil companies comes in hope of developing technology surrounding direct lithium extraction (DLE), a method of lithium extraction that could immensely speed up extraction times compared with current technologies. Current extraction methods recover around 40–60% of available lithium, while DLE yields recovery rates of 60–80%. However, the technology is currently unproven at scale, and more research and development is needed to bring it to commercial reality.

Companies who invest in US-based lithium mining technologies qualify for subsidies through the country’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), making investment in DLE projects currently under way in Nevada and Utah an attractive proposition.

Brian Menell, chief executive of mining investment fund TechMet, says that the industrial skills oil and gas companies use every day make them ideally placed to move into the lithium mining market.

“It is a natural evolution for oil companies.” he remarked. “Lithium brines are an obvious one as unlike charging networks and wind farms, where they have no skills besides project management, they are skilled at subsurface pumping and fluids.”