TotalEnergies and TES Launch FEED for US e-Methane Project, Targeting Production by 2030

en.Wedoany.com Reported - TotalEnergies, in partnership with TES and Japanese companies Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and Itochu, has launched Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) work for the Live Oak large-scale facility in Nebraska, USA. The facility will produce electric natural gas (e-NG), also known as e-methane.

Last year, TotalEnergies and TES signed a joint development and operation agreement, granting the aforementioned Japanese companies a combined 33.3% stake in the project, with TotalEnergies and TES each holding 33.35%.

According to a joint statement released on Friday, the FEED work will be executed by U.S. company KBR and Spanish company Tecnicas Reunidas. Both companies were selected by the consortium through a competitive process and will conduct FEED studies in parallel, after which one of the two concept options will be selected for implementation.

The project is progressing as planned, with the goal of completing FEED and commencing implementation in 2027, potentially entering commercial operation by 2030. Located in Norfolk, Nebraska, the project will produce e-NG, a synthetic gas created through the methanation of hydrogen produced via electrolysis with CO₂ captured from bioethanol plants.

e-NG is chemically identical to conventional natural gas and can be seamlessly integrated into existing LNG infrastructure, covering liquefaction, transportation, regasification, and distribution, with no modifications required to end-user equipment.

Once operational, the Live Oak project will leverage existing U.S. natural gas and LNG infrastructure for export, supplying low-carbon natural gas to Japanese customers, with Osaka Gas and Toho Gas serving as primary offtakers. The partners aim to have approximately 250 megawatts of electrolysis capacity and 75 kilotonnes per year of methanation capacity.