Texas Turns Oilfield Water Into Battery Metals

Select Water Solutions and LibertyStream partner to extract battery-grade lithium from Permian Basin produced water

10 Mar 2026

A partnership between Select Water Solutions and LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners aims to turn oilfield wastewater from Texas’s Permian Basin into a domestic supply of battery-grade lithium carbonate, a material central to electric vehicle batteries and grid-scale energy storage.

The two companies signed a commercial agreement in February 2026 to build lithium production facilities across Select’s water treatment and recycling network in the Midland Basin. The project will be developed in three phases, with the first plant expected to begin operations by December 2026 in Howard County.

The initiative relies on direct lithium extraction, a process that separates lithium from the hypersaline brines produced alongside oil and gas drilling. The Permian Basin generates more than 20mn barrels of such produced water each day, most of which is currently reinjected underground. The companies say recovering lithium from this stream could convert a waste product into a domestic mineral supply.

The first facility is expected to produce up to 1,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually. Additional plants are planned through 2027 and beyond across several Midland Basin counties, with longer-term plans to expand into North Dakota.

Under the arrangement, Select will provide pipeline networks and water pre-treatment infrastructure to prepare the brine streams. LibertyStream will finance, design and operate the extraction facilities. Select will receive a production royalty linked to lithium output.

The project comes as US demand for lithium rises sharply, driven by expanding electric vehicle manufacturing and the build-out of large-scale energy storage systems. Domestic supply has lagged demand, leaving the US reliant on imports from countries such as Chile, Argentina and Australia.

“We are excited to partner with Select,” said LibertyStream chief executive Alex Wylie, citing the company’s infrastructure footprint and operational scale across the Permian Basin.

With construction preparation under way, the companies say the model could reshape how the oil and gas sector handles produced water, treating it not only as a disposal challenge but also as a potential source of strategic minerals.