US lithium project owner names wellfield EPCM contractor

The US subsidiary of Scotland’s Wood Group has been selected to build wellfield infrastructure for a proposed US$1.45 billion lithium-brine project in Arkansas and Texas, USA.

Smackover Lithium, a 55:45 owned joint venture between Standard Lithium and Equinor, aims to build the country’s first commercial direct lithium extraction (DLE) operation.

It contracted Wood to deliver engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services for the upstream wellfield part of its South West Arkansas project. That component includes four well pads supporting 12 supply and 10 injection wells, brine gathering and return pipelines from the well pads to a central processing facility and a gas gathering system from the well pads to a disposal well.

Smackover Lithium said a separate EPCM agreement was expected to be signed “with a different counterparty” in the current quarter for the processing facility. The plant would include the project’s direct lithium extraction and battery-quality lithium carbonate conversion processes.

Smackover Lithium’s 2025 South West Arkansas definitive feasibility study outlined planned production of 22,500 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate over a 20-year modelled project life.

The project would process 200,000 cubic metres of brine with an average lithium concentration of 481 milligrams per litre.

“Upstream well field-related activities account for less than one-third of the project’s estimated capital expenditure,” Smackover Lithium said.

Aberdeen-based Wood, acquired earlier this year by Dubai-based Sidara for US$292 million, is a former oilfield engineering heavyweight once valued at about $7.5 billion. It is expected to get a full notice to proceed when Smackover Lithium issues a final investment decision.

It has previously said construction was likely to start this year and take 34 months to enable first production.

“Battery-quality lithium carbonate is critical to strengthening the United States domestic supply chain and this project marks a meaningful step towards securing critical minerals,” Wood Americas regional president Richard Neale said.

“We have been impressed by the project’s technical foundation and front-end design work and we look forward to applying our predictable and proven delivery expertise to the project to help execute safely and successfully, whilst supporting a more resilient minerals supply chain.”