Energy deal: Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The personal involvement of the US president, a former real estate developer who prides himself on cutting deals, marks a major shift for the complex Alaska LNG project. — Bloomberg
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump touted his administration’s work on a proposed Alaska pipeline, underscoring his push to invigorate a long-stalled US$44bil project to transport natural gas across the state and export it overseas.
The administration is “working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investment of trillions of dollars each,” Trump said during his joint address to Congress.
“It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go. The permitting is gotten.”
Trump’s comments followed weeks of talks between US officials and Asian allies aimed at luring investments and agreements to buy gas from the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture.
Although it’s been planned for decades, the project faces headwinds from its large price tag and mammoth scale, including the challenge of constructing a 1,290km pipeline across the state.
Trump pressed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on the project during their meeting in February, winning his commitment to cooperate on strengthening energy security, “including increasing exports of United States LNG to Japan in a mutually beneficial manner.”
US officials, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, discussed the project in a meeting with South Korean representatives last week.
The Philippines is planning to procure LNG from Alaska, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr intends to discuss the matter with Trump, the archipelago’s ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez said last month on X.
Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, said he had interacted with Taiwan officials interested in the venture too.
There’s been “high-level engagement that is literally happening on a daily basis,” Sullivan said. “Things are aligning in a way that hasn’t happened before.”
The dollar figure Trump invoked before Congress on Tuesday is higher than any existing, formal pledges.
For instance, Ishiba pledged to boost Japan’s overall investment in the United States to US$1 trillion but didn’t spell out a specific target for the Alaska venture.
The country’s existing foreign direct investment in the United States is already roughly the size of its annual budget.
Trump has prioritised the Alaska gas project, promising in a social media post days after the 2024 election he would ensure it “gets built to provide affordable energy to Alaska and allies all over the world.”
The president also used a Jan 20 executive order to officially make it US policy to “prioritise the development of Alaska’s LNG potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific Region.”
The personal involvement of Trump, a former real estate developer who prides himself on cutting deals, marks a major shift for the complex Alaska LNG (AKLNG)project.
Vocal support from the president, who is eager to reduce US trade deficits and enthusiastic about American energy potential has swiftly shifted the dynamic, Sullivan said.
“We now have a federal government, starting literally at the top with president Trump himself, that is highly motivated to get this project done,” Sullivan said.
Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy also singled out Trump’s personal involvement after Tuesday’s speech.
The president’s “support for AKLNG will ensure this massive LNG project is completed and clean Alaska gas supplies our Asian allies and our Alaskan residents for decades to come,” Dunleavy said in a post on X.
Asian allies have shown interest as they look for ways to head off Trump’s threatened tariffs, appealing to the president’s desire to balance trade flows.
The project offers the promise of a shorter shipping distance to Asia than US Gulf Coast alternatives, as well as avoiding the Panama Canal, which saw severe bottlenecks in 2023 due to drought.
Supporters have highlighted the domestic dividends too. The project would open new markets for massive gas reserves now stranded on Alaska’s North Slope.
And in the short term, it would import natural gas to supply Alaska, offsetting declining production in the state’s long-tapped Cook Inlet.
The project is now backed by a state-run agency, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, and privately owned Glenfarne, a company that is proposing to build two LNG plants in the United States but has yet to launch either of them. — Bloomberg
