TotalEnergies turns to US for first synthetic gas project

French major forms joint venture with Tree Energy Solutions to develop large-scale project with 1GW electrolyser

French energy company TotalEnergies has chosen the US as the location for its first large-scale project to produce carbon-neutral synthetic methane from renewable hydrogen, citing the offer of attractive subsidies and well-developed infrastructure. It has formed a joint venture with Belgium-based Tree Energy Solutions (TES) to study and develop the project with a potential output of 100,000–200,000t/yr of synthetic methane, or e-NG, produced by combining green hydrogen and biogenic CO₂. The project, owned equally by the partners and operated by TotalEnergies, will generate hydrogen with a 1GW electrolyser powered by c.2GW of wind and solar power supplied by TotalEnergies under long-term powe