The Alaska LNG pipeline project is a long-standing plan to transport gas from the North Slope of northernmost Alaska more than 1,200 km to the port of Nikiski, where the gas will be liquefied and exported to Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.
The project was approved by Trump during his first term, but has yet to be built.
Mr. Trump described the Alaska LNG pipeline as a "huge" and "unprecedented". However, in terms of length, it is far inferior to many other pipelines in the world. For example, Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline stretches about 5,000 km across Europe, or the Keystone pipeline runs more than 3,380 km between Canada and the US.
However, Alaska LNG has a significant diameter. With a diameter of 106 cm, it is larger than the average of 76 cm of pipelines in the world, and even larger than Keystone (91 cm). So technically, it is a big project, but not necessarily "unprecedented" as Mr. Trump claimed.
Mr. Trump said that Japan and South Korea are willing to invest thousands of billions of dollars in the project. But up to now, no gas purchase contracts have been signed. The only thing the project has is a preliminary deal with Great Bear Pantheon to buy about 14 million cubic meters of gas per day, enough to meet demand in the state of Alaska.
In terms of finance, the estimated cost of the project is up to 44 billion USD. The pipeline alone is estimated at about 11 billion USD. At the end of 2023, the Alaska government received a $50 million funding commitment to reduce the risk for companies participating in the project. However, this amount is still too small compared to the level needed for implementation.
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Governor of Alaska Mike Dunleavy have voted for Trump to mention Alaska LNG in their speech to Congress on the evening of May 4, US time.
After his speech, Mr. Sullivan declared this a "big win" for the state of Alaska and affirmed that he and Governor Dunleavy have worked hard to include this project in Mr. Trump's agenda.
However, the mention in the speech does not mean that the project will be implemented soon. It still needs huge capital, solid sales contracts and overcoming environmental and legal barriers.
