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Over 50 firms express interest in Alaska LNG project

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Top utility JERA among Japanese firms showing interest,

sources

say

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Final investment decision on pipeline expected by Q4

(Adds background, details on companies interested)

By Curtis Williams, Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova

June 3 (Reuters) -

Energy developer Glenfarne said on Tuesday that 50 firms had

formally expressed interest in contracts worth more than $115

billion of its Alaska LNG project, a massive infrastructure deal

championed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The ambitious proposal to transport gas from Alaska's far

north across the vast state to the Gulf of Alaska via a 800-mile

pipeline has been talked about for decades.

But Trump, who has pushed allies like Japan and South

Korea to buy U.S. energy while threatening trade tariffs, has

given it new impetus.

In a press release on Tuesday, Glenfarne said that its

unit overseeing the project had completed the first round of its

strategic partner selection process, receiving interest from

firms from the United States, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand,

India, and the European Union.

Japan's top utility firm JERA is one of a number of

Japanese companies that have expressed interest, according to

two sources familiar with the matter, but Japan is still

cautious in giving its firm support to the $44 billion project

given its high costs.

A Glenfarne spokesperson declined comment. JERA declined

to comment. Tokyo Gas ( TKGSF ), Osaka Gas ( OSGSF ) and Kansai

Electric Power ( KAEPF ), other major Japanese LNG buyers, also

declined comment.

Taiwan's state-run energy company CPC in March signed a

non-binding agreement to buy liquefied natural gas and invest in

the project, a move Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has said

would ensure the island's energy security.

If built, the Alaska LNG project will export up to 20

million metric tons per annum of the superchilled gas, according

to the project document.

It would open direct access for U.S.-made LNG to Asian

markets without having to go through the Panama Canal or around

the Horn of Africa, reducing transit time and costs.

"Alaska LNG's economic fundamentals allow it to deliver

LNG into Asia at prices that are lower than pricing from the

U.S. Gulf Coast," Glenfarne said in a press release.

The U.S. is the world's largest exporter of LNG and

could triple its export capacity by 2030 if ongoing projects and

those expected to get the financial greenlight this year are

successful.

Phase One of the project is expected to deliver natural gas

about 765 miles from the North Slope to the Anchorage region.

Phase Two will add nearly 42 miles of pipeline under the

Cook Inlet to the Alaska LNG export facility in Nikiski, which

will be constructed simultaneously with the LNG export facility.

Glenfarne expects a final investment decision on the

domestic portion of the Alaska LNG pipeline by the end of the

fourth quarter this year.

Takashi Uchida, chairman of the Japan Gas Association, said

on Tuesday there was still no clear path for how the project

would be developed or brought to market and that it was too

early to tell the final extent of Japanese industry involvement.