Governor Mike Dunleavy of Alaska is scheduled to visit South Korea from the 24th to the 25th to request investments from the Korean side for the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project. As Japan and Taiwan express their investment intentions in the Alaska LNG project promoted by the Donald Trump administration, pressure on the South Korean government and corporations is expected to increase.
According to trade authorities and the energy sector on the 21st, Governor Dunleavy is expected to meet with government officials and representatives from domestic energy corporations during his visit to discuss participation options in the Alaska LNG project. Governor Dunleavy and state government officials began their Asian tour on the 19th and will visit Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan in sequence until the 30th. They plan to explain the economic and strategic competitive advantages of Alaska LNG and attract investments.
The Alaska LNG project refers to a plan to transport natural gas produced in the North Slope gas field in the northernmost part of Alaska via a 1,287-kilometer pipeline to Nikiski near Anchorage, which is south of the Pacific, where it will be liquefied and then exported to the Asian region. South Korea is one of the top three LNG importing countries in the world, along with China and Japan. The Trump administration is promoting a plan that encourages Asian countries including South Korea and Japan to fund the construction of the pipeline and handle the imports.
The Trump administration highlights that importing U.S. LNG via the Panama Canal takes 3 to 4 weeks, while using Alaska can reduce the transportation time to one week. The current project cost is estimated at $44 billion (about 63 trillion won), but it is expected to increase due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on construction raw materials such as steel.
The Trump administration previously requested that Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun participate in the Alaska LNG project during his visit to the U.S. at the end of last month. Subsequently, President Trump mentioned during a joint speech to the U.S. Congress on the 4th that South Korea and Japan, among others, would each invest trillions of dollars in the Alaska natural gas pipeline construction project, placing added pressure. At that time, there were no government-to-government discussions.
During his visit, Governor Dunleavy is expected to explain the project to domestic energy and steel companies and request their participation in the investment. Currently, the possibility of equity investments from resource development firms such as POSCO INTERNATIONAL, SK Innovation E&S, and Korea Gas Corporation is being discussed. Governor Dunleavy mentioned that LNG exports could begin as early as 2030 or 2031, urging a swift start to the project.
A representative of POSCO INTERNATIONAL stated, "A meeting with Governor Dunleavy is scheduled, but the details of the schedule are still being finalized."
Japan and Taiwan have expressed their investment intentions at the government level. The Taiwanese government signed a letter of intent to invest in the Alaska LNG project with the Alaska state government the day before. According to a statement from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs, the state-owned energy company CPC Corporation and the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) signed the letter of intent. Governor Dunleavy also attended the signing ceremony. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen welcomed the partnership in the Alaska LNG project as a means to strengthen Taiwan's energy security and enhance cooperation with the United States.