Funding for the long-sought Alaska LNG Project is one piece of a trade deal President Donald Trump announced Wednesday between the United States and South Korea. The White House says South Korea will invest $200 billion in U.S. projects in exchange for lower tariffs as part of the larger trade agreement.
Trump made the announcement from the Oval Office, surrounded by a smattering of cabinet members, Alaska officials and the CEO of the Alaska LNG Project’s private developer.
“The colossal package of investments we are announcing today is a major step toward securing our critical energy supply chain, ensuring American energy dominance, and making our partnership with South Korea and the entire Pacific region stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
If it’s built, the roughly $55 billion project would move North Slope natural gas through an 800-mile pipeline to Southcentral for export. After taking over majority ownership of the project in 2025, private developer Glenfarne Group said it would break up the project into two phases.
Standing to Trump’s left during Wednesday’s press conference was Glenfarne Group Founder and CEO Brendan Duval. He says work on the AK LNG could start immediately if the South Korean funding comes through, with the first gas flowing in as soon as three years.
The first phase includes a gas treatment plant on the North Slope and the 42-inch diameter pipeline. The second phase includes a liquefaction and export facility in Nikiski. Alaska has tried for decades to build a trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline. But high costs have consistently stalled progress.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says South Korea will invest “just over $50 billion” for the Alaska LNG Project.
“All of Southeast Asia is going to be leaning on the president and the United States of America for their gas, for their natural resources, changing the way the world looks at America and works with America,” Lutnick said.
Other investments announced as part of the trade deal include $120 billion for eight nuclear power plants to be built around the Lower 48 and $22 billion for a gas-fired power plant in Texas.
Wednesday’s announcement came roughly a month before the Midterm Elections, including a tight U.S. Senate race. Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is running for reelection against Democratic challenger and former Congresswoman Mary Peltola. Trump has long-backed Sullivan and put responsibility for the AK LNG announcement squarely on his shoulders.
“This is a great senator who is totally responsible for this pipeline,” Trump said.
Trump also worked in some jabs at the other Dan Sullivan running for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat, who Trump called a “disgraceful fraud.” The Dan Sullivan from Petersburg has been accused of being a Democratic plant running to confuse voters and pull votes away from the incumbent.
It’s true that Republican Dan Sullivan has long advocated for the project at the federal level, including shopping it around the Pentagon and touring North Slope infrastructure with federal officials. On Wednesday, he reiterated his belief that AK LNG is the quote “most important project in our state.”
“We'll be able to get gas, of course, to Alaskans first, and our military, and we need it, but to our Asian allies,” Sullivan said. “So, Mr. President, thank you again, and everybody here, we're going to get this done. We're going to get this done.”
Peltola touted her own Congressional record on the Alaska LNG Project in a statement released after Wednesday’s announcement.
“I am so proud of the bipartisan work that I’ve done from the Alaska State Legislature to the United States House of Representatives to bring an LNG pipeline from the North Slope closer to reality, and I will continue to champion the Alaska LNG project in the United States Senate so that we can create good-paying Alaska jobs and drive down energy costs for families across the state,” she said.
Korean news outlets broached the future of the Alaska LNG Project with less certainty. In an interview with the Chosun Daily, South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan said the project “falls short in commercial rationality.” But he also said Alaska LNG could provide energy security amid geopolitical risk in existing trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz.
Jung-kwan told the Chosun Daily that South Korea plans to continue reviewing the project specifications to see if its commercial rationality can be improved. He says the country’s National Assembly spent four days discussing the proposal with a special focus on ensuring South Korea can recover its principal and interest on investment, the outlet reported.
South Korea has been a key player in the project’s future since Glenfarne entered the scene. Countries in Pacific Asia have long been seen as a primary market for Alaska LNG exports, due in part to Alaska’s history of exporting LNG to the region and geographic proximity. Sending gas across the Pacific Ocean is easier than sending gas from places like Texas, which must travel through the Panama Canal.
Last year, Glenfarne announced a “strategic partnership” with POSCO International, South Korea’s largest trading company, which produces steel and imports liquefied natural gas. The company also signed on to collaborate with the State of Alaska for six other energy projects earlier this year.
Representatives from POSCO and other potential Alaska LNG Project partners joined Glenfarne for a tour of the proposed Nikiski project site earlier this summer. The visit came as part of an annual energy conference held in Anchorage.
The fate of a trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline has been in limbo after state lawmakers failed to approve a tax break for the project. Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Glenfarne proposed changing how Alaska profits from oil and gas projects from a property tax to a tax on the amount of natural gas flowing through the pipeline. That’s also called a volumetric tax.
Among other things, lawmakers sought more information from Glenfarne on how it planned to pay for the project, the financial risk to Alaskans and the project status. Glenfarne initially said it planned to make a final investment decision before the end of 2025, but has repeatedly pushed back that timeline.
Republican Rep. Jesse Bjorkman, of Nikiski, said Wednesday he had not received any details about the White House announcement.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the details of what has been agreed to and tangible progress on the project,” he said.
The Alaskan LNG Project has picked up a handful of nonbinding agreements over the last year-and-a-half, including from potential gas buyers, material providers and labor agreements. As of Wednesday, there were no binding agreements with potential LNG buyers.
