Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) isn't your average oil company. While it currently makes most of its money producing fossil fuels, it has grand ambitions to help lead the transition to lower-carbon energy. Through its Oxy Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary and other endeavors, it has invested heavily in several emerging lower-carbon energy technologies.

The oil company's upside to the clean energy transition is one of the many factors that caught the eye of Warren Buffett. His company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B), which currently owns 28% of the oil company's outstanding shares, is no stranger to investing in clean energy. Berkshire is now partnering with Occidental to commercialize lithium, a key ingredient for electric vehicle batteries. Here's a look at their new partnership and why energy companies are turning to this metal to help power their future growth.

Occidental Petroleum is forming a new joint venture (JV) with BHE Renewables, the renewable energy subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. They formed the JV to demonstrate and deploy TerraLithium's Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) and associated technologies to extract and produce lithium from geothermal brine. TerraLithium is a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental that patented DLE technologies.

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Source Fool.com