Well locations
This map pinpoints the locations where Tetra Technologies plans to position brine production and injection wells along the Columbia-Lafayette county line.

Tetra Technologies plans to build a half-billion-dollar bromine production facility along the Columbia-Lafayette county line, pending action by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission.

The commission, meeting last Tuesday in El Dorado, heard Tetra’s request that the commission create what the company calls the “Evergreen Brine Unit.”

Tetra, which is based in The Woodlands, TX, made a presentation to commissioners that stressed its need for bromine.

At present, Tetra’s primary products are bromine completion fluids that are important to the oil and gas industry.

A bromine-based electrolyte for long duration energy storage has recently been brought to the market by Tetra. Bromine is also in demand for fire retardants for electric vehicles.

Tetra is unable to acquire sufficient bromine on the open market to meet its needs, the company presentation said.

The same saltwater brine Tetra proposes to produce from its prospective production field in the two counties may also be used to produce lithium. Lithium is the high demand chemical element that is needed to store the energy for electric vehicles.

Tetra wants to ship elemental bromine made locally to its West Memphis facility. That’s where Tetra makes the brominated compounds it sells to its customers.

An unnamed joint venture partner and Tetra “intend to construct both a bromine and lithium brine extraction facility in the southeast portion of its mineral lease. Estimated $500 million investment for both plants, wells and pipelines,” a slide in Tetra’s PowerPoint presentation to the commission read.

The plant’s location isn’t specified, but it appears to be along Columbia County Road 50, which turns into Lafayette County Road 21 once the county line is crossed. However, the area also appears to be in the small portion of land in Columbia County that is part of the Lafayette County School District.

Lithium production isn’t in Tetra’s immediate plans, but the company said it would seek AOGC approval before doing so.

About 6,138 acres are included in legal descriptions of the land for the proposed Evergreen Brine Unit. Approximately two-thirds of the land is in Columbia County, along and north of County Roads 1 and 50 three miles southwest of the Lake Columbia spillway. About one-third is in Lafayette County, along and north of Lafayette County Road 36, terminating near the former McKamie Gas Plant.

Tetra Technologies plans to drill five brine supply wells in Columbia County. It also plans five injection wells to send the brine back into the Smackover Formation once bromine is extracted. Three of the injection wells will be in Columbia County, and two in Lafayette County.

Tetra Technologies discusses its plans in part of a 239-page application for the brine unit that it submitted to the AOGC.

While parts of the document are highly technical, most of it details ownership of mineral rights and the efforts made to contact non-responsive mineral rights owners. The document lists those persons within the brine unit who have not leased their mineral rights, or who could not be contacted by Tetra.

During the remainder of 2023, Tetra will drill and complete an additional test well “to obtain additional brine samples and detailed well log data to potentially enhance the reservoir model, and potentially further optimize supply and injection well locations to more efficiently sweep the brine field.”

It will also begin detailed design work for a bromine processing facility.

Construction of a bromine plant will start in 2024. This will include drilling and completing the supply and injection wells.

Tetra estimates that each well will produce 5.475 million stock tank barrels of brine annually. A stock tank barrel is equal to 42 U.S. gallons. Estimated production is 547,500,000 stock tank barrels over 20 years.

Creation of the brine production unit will allow the company to proceed with construction of the bromine plant and brine production field. It also creates the framework to make mineral lease payments to property owners.

Tetra Technologies, in its AOGC presentation, noted that it holds about 40,000 acres in brine leases in the two counties. The presentation said that in December 2017, Tetra made an agreement to provide Standard Lithium with the option to acquire about 35,000 acres of lithium mineral rights.

“These options have not been exercised and are due to expire in 2027,” the presentation said.

Tetra Technology’s brine leases are located north of about 120,000 acres of brine releases acquired by Saltwerx working with Galvanic Energy. According to the Wall Street Journal, ExxonMobil recently bought Galvanic Energy’s brine leases for $100 million. ExxonMobil previously acquired Saltwerx.

Tetra’s brine leases north of the proposed Evergreen Brine Unit are largely those where Standard Lithium has an option for lithium production from the brine.

“Acreage to the south of Proposed Unit boundary is largely controlled by Saltwerx with Tetra owning additional leases in the Southeast area.

“The proposed unit is a good collaboration between Tetra and Saltwerx to optimize leases between Tetra leases to the north and Saltwerx leases to the south. Tetra and Saltwerx own about 90% of the proposed unit brine mineral rights,” the presentation said.

Formation of the Evergreen unit will trigger an agreement between Tetra and Saltwerx under which Tetra will transfer brine leases it holds south of the unit to Saltwerx.

“This will facility future potential (brine) units south of the (Evergreen) unit,” the presentation said.

Approval of the Evergreen Brine Unit will also further an agreement between Saltwerx and Tetra to reach a final investment decision around January 1, 2024.

“Saltwerx and TETRA are collaborating on the evaluation of Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies and are in late stages of due diligence to select the DLE provider. Tetra completed a Bromine FEED study at the end of last year and initiated a Lithium FEED study that is due for completion in November,” the AOGC presentation said.

Tetra Technologies said that the unit size is large enough to meet Tetra’s 20-year bromine demand requirements.

Also, the unit is small enough to reduce the technology risk for an early commercial U.S. Direct Lithium Extraction plant.

“We estimate the combined investment for the wells, pipelines, and both plants to be over $500 million, providing exceptionally good employment opportunities and benefits to lease holders and the State of Arkansas,” the presentation said.

There was no immediate word on when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission may approve Tetra Technology’s request to create the brine unit. The commission’s next meeting is August 22 in North Little Rock.

Tetra Technologies is scheduled to announce its second quarter 2023 financial results after the closing of the stock market today.

On Tuesday, Tetra will host a conference call at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the results. Brady M. Murphy, president and CEO, and Elijio V. Serrano, senior vice president and CFO, will host the call.

People may listen to the conference call by calling the toll-free phone number 1-888-347-5303. The conference call will also be available by live audio webcast. The news release will be available on the company’s website prior to the conference call. A replay of the conference call will be available at 1-877-344-7529 conference number 2982082, for one week following the conference call and the archived webcast will be available through the company’s website for 30 days following the conference call.