Alaska governor to brief Trump on Asia gas push as tariffs bite

By Tim Kelly and Katya Golubkova

TOKYO (Reuters) -Alaska's governor will brief U.S. President Donald Trump's administration next week on progress in securing Asian backing for a $44 billion natural gas export project, he told Reuters, part of Washington’s broader push on trade and tariffs. Trump wants Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan to join the project and Governor Mike Dunleavy is winding up a trip through Asia where he has been seeking investors and long-term buyers. He is travelling with the heads of the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) and development partner Glenfarne Group and has held talks in Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. "Buying gas and then investing in America helps with the discussions that are happening at the federal level and at the national level," Dunleavy told Reuters in an interview in Tokyo. "I would like to talk with the president, but at least I’ll be talking with some of the secretaries that are intimately focused on this project," he told Reuters.

The delegation’s visit coincides with renewed trade pressure from Washington. On Wednesday, Trump announced a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks starting April 3 — a threat to the auto sectors of Japan and South Korea. Dunleavy said he had not secured investment or purchase commitments in Japan or South Korea but would return home with a letter of intent from Taiwan to buy 6 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually following two meetings with President Lai Ching-te.

The project's target production capacity is 20 million tons per annum. "The desire to be linked to the United States for geopolitical purposes is strongest out of Taiwan by far," Brendan Duval, founder and CEO of Glenfarne, told Reuters. Alaska plans to transport natural gas from the state's remote north along a proposed $44 billion, 1,300 km (800-mile) pipeline to the south, where it will be liquefied and shipped to East Asia beginning in 2030.

Construction for the LNG pipeline would begin in 2026 with gas flowing in 2028, and the conditioning plant and export facility completed in 2030, the governor's office said in an emailed statement earlier this month.

Trump, who has pushed allies to buy U.S. energy while simultaneously threatening trade tariffs, asked Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in February to support the Alaskan plan. In a recent address to Congress, he said Japan and South Korea wanted to partner in a project he claims could inject trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy. Japanese energy companies, including Inpex Corp, the country's largest oil and gas explorer, say they remain unconvinced about the project's viability. In Tokyo, the Alaskan delegation also met with Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yoji Muto. Earlier in Seoul, they held talks with South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun. Detailed project plans, including the front-end engineering design, are expected to be completed in the third quarter, with a final investment decision for the pipeline part of the project likely by the end of the year.

That would pave the way for Asian buyers to commit to a project that, according to Glenfarne's Duval, will be able to deliver gas at a competitive price. U.S. investors will provide most of the financing for the pipeline, while any equity from Japan or other Asian buyers will likely be tied to offtake from the liquefaction plant that will prepare the gas for export, Duval said. "Some leadership out of Japan clearly is going to be helpful," he said.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly and Katya Golubkova; editing by Tomasz Janowski and Jason Neely)