Exclusive: Alaska governor says Korea to join $44B LNG project, binding deal set for December

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Exclusive: Alaska governor says Korea to join $44B LNG project, binding deal set for December

Published: 29 Nov. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 29 Nov. 2025, 13:04

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during the annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference on June 3 in Anchorage, Alaska. [AP/YONHAP]

[INTERVIEW]

Korea will take part in building the pipelines for Alaska’s gigantic $44 billion LNG project, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says, with a legally binding agreement to be announced by December.

This comes amid Seoul’s continued denials of participation, while dovetailing with comments made publicly by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who argued that a portion of Korea’s $200 billion cash investment in the United States would flow into the Alaska LNG project.

[단독] 알래스카 주지사, “한국 LNG 프로젝트 참여 확실…12월 중 정식 계약 발표”

“There are continuing discussions with the U.S. government with Korean officials on how big of an investment Korea is going to be eventually making in this project and how big of an offtake for this gas project,” Dunleavy said during a phone call interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on Nov. 26.

“Posco inked the letter of intent in September, and they are defining a process to move to definitive agreements, which would include steel supply, offtakes and other types of investments,” Dunleavy added. “An announcement will be made by December on a hard agreement.”

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy talks with President Lee Jae Myung about the state's further cooperation with Korea in energy during his visit to Korea on March 26. [YONHAP]

The hard agreement appears to represent an upgrade from the pre-agreement that Posco International signed with Glenfarne Group, a leading developer of the Alaska project, in September, which included a 20-year, 1 million-ton LNG supply from Alaska, steel supply for the project’s gas pipelines, and additional stake investments.

Posco International declined to comment by adding that "the timing for a hard agreement has not been decided."

The governor’s assertion sits in pronounced dissonance with Seoul’s stated position to date, given that Korea’s Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan has publicly cast the Alaska project as a “high-risk” business that lies beyond the contours of the nation’s U.S. investment portfolio.

Yet, Lutnick said that U.S. President Donald Trump will “direct $200 billion across projects built in America, including the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline, energy infrastructure, critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and AI and quantum computing” on Oct. 30.

Korea’s cautious stance stems from uncertainties over the project’s commercial viability and return on investment. The Alaska LNG project is a massive undertaking that aims to transport natural gas extracted from the Prudhoe Bay field in the state’s far north, roughly 1,300 kilometers (807 miles), via pipeline to a nearby ice-free port for export. It will require an estimated $44 billion in investment, and the project is expected to take more than a decade to complete.

“The Trump administration is behind this project. They believe that this gas could help Korea diversify its gas portfolio so that it doesn't have to rely on one or two or three gas deliveries,” the governor said.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, center, talks about the state's further cooperation with Korea in energy during an Amcham event in central Seoul on March 26. [YONHAP]

Regarding the project’s commercial prospects, Gov. Dunleavy said an updated economic study, scheduled to conclude in December, suggests the venture would be both feasible and economically viable.

“The next step in January is a final investment decision on the pipe, and at that point they will order pipe, and that the pipe should be in Alaska by next August, which begins the actual construction of the project.”

“So I think once the investment decision is made in January, you will see a large number of entities wanting to participate and move,” he added.

The governor also touted Korea’s geographical proximity as a significant advantage for Alaska, noting that it takes only eight days to sail from Anchorage to Korea.

“There are many firms in Korea that deal with steel, deal with shipping, deal with modularization of things like a liquefaction plant,” he said. “Other than Posco, we’ve been talking to a whole number of different Korean entities for offtakes.”

The project plans to sell 20 million tons of LNG annually to the Asia Pacific, having already secured buyers for 60 percent of the volume.

Including 1 million tons to Posco International, Glenfarne has inked agreements to supply 2 million tons to Japan’s JERA, 1 million tons to Tokyo Gas, 2 million tons to Thailand’s PTT, and 6 million tons to Taiwan’s CPC. However, these arrangements are not legally binding at present.

With 8 million tons remaining, speculation has arisen that China might step in as a buyer as part of ongoing U.S.-China tariff negotiations.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]