On Wednesday (February 5th), Senator Dan Sullivan from Alaska urged the United States’ Asian allies to support the natural gas pipeline project planned in Alaska. He warned that if the allies are not interested in purchasing the state’s natural gas, then America’s strategic competitors, including China, will be interested.
The pipeline project in Alaska has a total length of 800 miles and will connect the gas fields in northern Alaska to ports in the south. At these ports, the natural gas will be liquefied and transported to Asia.
According to Reuters, Senator Sullivan, a Republican, stated that he would not be surprised if President Trump meets Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday (February 7th) at the White House to discuss this $44 billion natural gas pipeline project in Alaska.
U.S. officials familiar with the matter told Reuters that Japan is considering supporting the pipeline project as a gesture to President Trump to prevent potential trade friction.
Sullivan told the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington that this is also an excellent opportunity for U.S. allies like South Korea and Taiwan.
He said, “I think they need to be a little forward-leaning because if they don’t, you know, we will move on to somebody else.”
He explained, “It’s not my preference, I don’t want to sell this to China, but if the Chinese want to step up as primary customers, and now there are many private sector interests also interested in trying to do this… maybe that’s the road we’re going to have to go. It’s not my preference, I want to work with our allies.”
He stated that the project would be a great opportunity for Asian allies to reduce trade deficits and ease tensions with the United States.
He emphasized the importance of securing long-term contracts for purchasing natural gas, which will attract “some of the world’s largest investors” to finance the project, with investments from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan welcomed.
On January 20th, when Trump took office, one of the promises in the executive orders he signed was to unlock Alaska’s resources, including selling and transporting liquefied natural gas from Alaska to allied countries in other regions and the Pacific.
This project can transport 3.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, which Trump described as a win-win for Alaska and U.S. Asian allies seeking stable energy sources.
Japan already has sufficient liquefied natural gas supply, with Japanese companies trading about 38 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas last year, exceeding half of their domestic consumption. However, the Alaskan pipeline would help companies reduce their reliance on natural gas from higher risk regions like Russia and the Middle East.
Last week, Shinzo Abe stated that while Japan needs to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, “we should make some requests to the U.S. in terms of stable energy supply.”
A source mentioned that any deals must provide reasonable pricing and flexibility, including allowing Japanese buyers to resell the purchased liquefied natural gas.
In 2022, Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan reached an agreement with the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, responsible for overseeing the liquefied natural gas project, to evaluate the feasibility of producing synthetic ammonia. However, apart from the evaluation, Mitsubishi has not made any commitments to the project.