The funding, awarded by the Department of Energy, is part of up to $7 billion the U.S. allocated to establish hydrogen hubs across the country.

With success to date in Harkey sandstone overlying the Wolfcamp, the company aims to make mega-DSUs in New Mexico with the 49,000-net-acre bolt-on of adjacent sections.

As Expand Energy leans into its newly combined Chesapeake-Southwestern acreage, Tim Beard, the company’s vice president of drilling, would be “surprised” if Expand did not drill U-turn wells in the Appalachian Basin.

As part of the nonbinding offtake agreement announced Nov. 20, Exxon will supply lithium from its planned project to LG Chem’s cathode plant in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Eyeing profit with a keep-it-in-the-pipe mentality, executives’ thoughts are on lowering emissions, getting premiums and producing compliance-ready molecules for the EU.