TotalEnergies and Partners Advance Nebraska e-NG Project

TTE -0.11% THOGF 0.00% OSGSF 0.00% ITOCF +0.07%

TotalEnergies, TES, and three Japanese gas companies have signed a development agreement for the Live Oak e-NG project in Nebraska, targeting commercial operations by 2030.

The agreement brings in Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and ITOCHU, which together will take a one-third stake in what is set to become one of the most advanced synthetic gas developments in the United States. The Joint Development and Operating Agreement finalizes ownership shares, leaving TotalEnergies and TES with equal 33.35% interests and positioning the Japanese companies as strategic buyers of future output.

The partners will now begin Front-End Engineering Design for a facility designed to run 250 MW of electrolysis capacity and produce around 75,000 tonnes per year of synthetic methane. A final investment decision is planned for 2027, with start-up targeted for 2030. Osaka Gas and Toho Gas are expected to be the main offtakers, aligning the project directly with Japan’s target of blending at least 1% carbon-neutral gas into the national grid by the end of the decade.

The Live Oak project is built on Nebraska’s unusually rich concentration of biogenic CO? from the state’s bioethanol plants, which will serve as a key feedstock for synthetic methane production. The facility will pair this captured CO? with hydrogen produced via renewable-powered electrolysis, creating a molecule known as e-natural gas or e-methane. Chemically identical to fossil natural gas, e-NG can be liquefied, transported, regasified, and distributed through existing LNG infrastructure without requiring equipment changes for customers. This compatibility is a major reason why Japanese gas utilities are moving quickly to secure supply, as it allows them to decarbonize without replacing appliances or overhauling networks.

The agreement marks the latest step in a broader partnership between TotalEnergies and TES, who began working together in 2023 to scale e-NG production worldwide. It also reinforces Japan’s strategy of diversifying future gas imports as it balances decarbonization goals with the realities of an energy system heavily reliant on LNG. For the United States, the project highlights how federal incentives and abundant renewable energy resources are helping accelerate investment in synthetic fuels and power-to-gas initiatives, particularly in regions with strong biofuel industries.

For TotalEnergies, the deal strengthens its low-carbon gas portfolio while deepening commercial ties with Japan’s largest city-gas suppliers. For the Japanese companies, it offers early access to a new class of carbon-neutral LNG-compatible molecules that could help secure long-term supply stability as global competition for clean fuels intensifies.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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