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Nitrogen+Syngas 399 Jan-Feb 2026

26 January 2026

Synthetic natural gas project for Nebraska

Synthetic natural gas project for Nebraska

A consortium consisting of TotalEnergies, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and ITOCHU have signed a joint development and operating agreement, granting the Japanese companies a combined 33.3% stake in the Live Oak project – a large-scale facility to produce renewable synthetic natural gas, also referred to as e-NG or e-methane, initiated by TES and TotalEnergies and currently under development in Nebraska. Following the agreement, TES and TotalEnergies will each maintain a 33.35 % stake in the project.

The partners are now preparing the front-end engineering design (FEED) phase, targeting a capacity of approximately 250 MW of electrolysis and 75,000 t/a of methanation. The project, subject to a final investment decision in 2027, is scheduled to begin commercial operations by 2030, with plans to export e-NG to Japan. Osaka Gas and Toho Gas will be the primary offtakers. This project helps the Japanese gas majors in achieving their goal of injecting 1% carbon neutral gas (such as e-NG) into the gas grid by 2030.

Latest in Industrial

Partnership for waste to methanol plant

HyOrc Corporation says that it has signed a project development and technology agreement with Bulgaria-based OnEnergy Group to develop a waste-to-methanol facility. Under the agreement, HyOrc will serve as the technology partner for Stage 3 of the project, which focuses on thermochemical conversion of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) into green methanol. The facility is designed to process approximately 50,000 t/a of RDF, operating around 330 days per year with a daily throughput of approximately 150-155 t/d. Expected methanol production capacity is approximately 38-42 t/d (13,200 t/a), subject to final engineering configuration.

Agreement over green methanol project

Swedish e-fuel developer Liquid Wind and Finnish energy company Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto (TSE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a green methanol plant at Naantali, Finland. The facility is planned to be adjacent to TSE’s local power plant, Naantali 4, which will deliver biogenic CO 2 and steam for the production of methanol. Process and waste heat will be used for district heating, reducing the share of incineration-based district heat production by TSE. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce 100,000 t/a of green methanol made from green hydrogen and biogenic CO 2 . The final investment decision (FID) is planned for 2026, and the facility is expected to be operational in 2029.

Bilfinger appointed as consultant for biomethanol facility

Perpetual Next has selected Bilfinger Engineering & Consultancy as lead consultant for its Methanol Moerdijk project, a planned biomethanol facility in the Port of Moerdijk, the Netherlands. The appointment covers environmental impact assessment and permitting support for the development of the project. Under the agreement, Bilfinger will support Methanol Moerdijk BV with key permitting activities, including the environmental impact assessment (MER/ EIA), support for environmental and nature permits, stakeholder and authority coordination, and project management and quality assurance. The Methanol Moerdijk project is being developed as a large-scale biomethanol facility intended to convert approximately 313,000 t/a of biologically-derived carbon into around 216,000 t/a of biomethanol.

Approval for biomass biomethanol plant

The Government of Assam has approved a fiscal incentive package for the development of an industrial scale biomethanol facility at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. Project developer Novel Biofuels is working in partnership with infrastructure company ACTUAL on the project, which will produce 1.4 million litres/day (1,100 t/d) of high-purity biomethanol from sustainably harvested bamboo sourced from Assam’s smallholder farming communities. It is expected to be commissioned by 2030, with site development and supply chain buildout commencing in 2026.

Jindal Steel to use syngas for direct reduction iron

Jindal Steel says that it has achieved a global first by establishing India’s first coal gasification-based direct reduced iron (DRI) plant, using syngas for iron making. In response to shortages of natural gas, LPG and propane, Jindal Steel has also looked to deploy syngas in galvanising and colour coating line furnaces, as well as injecting syngas into its blast furnace, reducing dependence on imported coking coal and lowering carbon emissions per tonne of steel.