Trump-backed Alaska LNG revival still faces viability questions in Korea

With a discrepancy emerging between Korea and the U.S. over a proposed investment of more than $50 billion in the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, questions are growing over whether the project can generate sufficient commercial returns for Seoul. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said Wednesday (local time) Korea would invest about $54 billion (73.4 trillion won) in the Alaska LNG project, as part of Seoul's $200 billion investment package to Washington. The White House presented the project as a committed investment, while Korea has maintained that participation remains subject to further review of its “commercial reasonableness.” The gap is significant because Alaska LNG has spent more than a decade struggling to demonstrate that it can compete economically with LNG projects closer to major markets. The project would transport natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope through an approximately 1,300-kilometer pipeline to Nikiski, where it would be liquefied and exported primarily to Asian markets. Glenfarne Group owns 75 percent of the project alongside the state-ow