Mr. Daniel Rosen reports

SMACKOVER LITHIUM EXCEEDS TARGETED CUSTOMER OFFTAKE VOLUMES FOR SOUTH WEST ARKANSAS PROJECT

Smackover Lithium, a partnership between Standard Lithium Ltd., through its subsidiaries, and Equinor, through subsidiaries of Equinor ASA, has amended its binding commercial offtake agreement with Trafigura Trading LLC for the South West Arkansas project. The amendment provides the additional offtake volumes targeted to complete the project's customer offtake process and move to finalize the ongoing debt financing process. All figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.

Trafigura is a market leader in the global commodities industry, with an established presence across battery metal markets, including lithium. As one of the largest commodity traders in the world, Trafigura provides valuable access to multiple industry supply chains that rely on lithium chemicals along with a broad suite of customers.

Under the amended terms of the agreement, Smackover Lithium now has the option, at its own election, to supply Trafigura with up to an additional 4,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate in each year of the 10-year agreement beginning at the start of commercial production. Combined with the initial 8,000-metric-tonne-per-year commitment under the agreement, the maximum possible volumes to be delivered to Trafigura on a take-or-pay basis has increased to 12,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year. Pricing and other key commercial terms remain subject to confidentiality.

The amended agreement also provides valuable production flexibility for the project. Because the additional volume is deliverable solely at Smackover Lithium's election, it retains the ability to allocate that volume to other strategic customers in the future if a superior commercial or strategic opportunity emerges. Importantly, an additional offtake agreement is not required to move forward with the project financing process.

The target for the SWA project was to secure customer offtake agreements for roughly 80 per cent (18,000) of the 22,500 tonnes of annual nameplate lithium carbonate capacity in its initial phase. Together with the recently announced binding take-or-pay agreement with LG Energy Solution for 8,000 metric tonnes per year, total possible commitments have now reached 20,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, exceeding the initial target.

Smackover Lithium now has sufficient offtake commitments to focus on finalizing its project debt financing efforts. Due diligence and other customary processes in furtherance of project financing are well under way with three major export credit agencies. The project continues to target a senior secured, limited recourse debt financing package of around $1.1-billion as outlined in its financing update on Dec. 9, 2025.

David Park, chief executive officer of Standard Lithium, stated: "This is a pivotal milestone for the SWA project and a testament to the strength of our customer relationships.

"The offtake process has been one of the most important and time-intensive workstreams, and we now have the volume commitments needed to support our project debt financing, as well as the flexibility to continue to pursue transactions that maximize value for our stakeholders. Our path forward is clear as we focus on finalizing and closing the project financing, taking FID and beginning construction."

Having successfully completed the commercial offtake workstream, Smackover Lithium continues to target a final investment decision (FID) on the SWA project later this year before moving promptly into construction. This would enable first commercial production of battery-quality lithium carbonate in 2029.

Qualified person

All scientific and technical disclosure in this news release was reviewed and approved by Stephen Ross, PGeo, British Columbia, vice-president of resource development for Standard Lithium and a qualified person for purposes of, and as that term is defined in, National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Ross is not independent of the company.

Department of energy acknowledgment and disclaimer

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation under award No. DE-MS0000099. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States government.

About Smackover Lithium

Smackover Lithium is a partnership between Standard Lithium and Equinor, through subsidiaries of Equinor ASA. Formed in May, 2024, Smackover Lithium is developing multiple direct lithium extraction (DLE) projects in southwest Arkansas and East Texas. Standard Lithium is the majority partner with a 55-per-cent interest and is the developer and operator of the projects. Equinor holds the remaining 45-per-cent interest in the projects.

About Standard Lithium Ltd.

Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company focused on the sustainable development of a portfolio of large, high-grade lithium-brine properties in the United States. The company prioritizes industry leading projects characterized by large high-grade resources, robust infrastructure, skilled labour and streamlined permitting. Standard Lithium aims to achieve sustainable, commercial-scale lithium production via the application of a scalable and fully integrated DLE (direct lithium extraction) and purification process. The company's flagship projects are in the Smackover formation, an attractive lithium brine asset, focused in Arkansas and Texas. Standard Lithium is advancing the SWA project, a greenfield project located in Southern Arkansas, and a promising lithium brine resource position in East Texas, including the highest-known lithium brine grade project in North America, the Franklin project.

Standard Lithium trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the symbol SLI.

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