Trump Prioritizes Alaska LNG Project in South Korea Investment Package
US President Donald Trump has included the Alaska liquefied natural gas project in South Korea's investment plans, making it a priority for the country. The project, valued at around $54 billion, involves extracting natural gas from northern Alaska and transporting it through a 1,300 km pipeline to Nikiski in southern Alaska before exporting it to other countries.
The move has sparked concerns that Washington may be treating Korean participation as a settled matter without fully considering the commercial viability of the project. The US government has agreed on a specific direction for only one project with South Korea: the Encinal LNG combined-cycle power plant in Texas, but negotiations are still ongoing for the construction of eight large nuclear reactors and the Alaska LNG project.
Trump has shown interest in the Alaska LNG project since early in his term, aligning with an agenda that encourages fossil fuel development. The project is technically demanding due to the pipeline's length and the challenges of working in permafrost regions. Despite these concerns, Trump has pressed Korea on investment during a White House Q&A session earlier this month, saying Korea and Japan were heading to Alaska to build a pipeline.
POSCO International has already signed a framework agreement with Glenfarne, the Alaska LNG developer, to buy 1 million tons of Alaskan LNG per year for 20 years. The move reflects an eye on supplying steel pipe during pipeline construction. An energy industry official said that in oil and gas projects, early investors are typically granted rights to a certain share of output.