Japan could be open to discussing backing a $44-billion gas pipeline and LNG export project in Alaska to avoid President Trump’s tariffs, Reuters reported on Friday, citing officials in Tokyo with knowledge of the matter.
Japan, the world’s second-largest LNG importer, as well as other U.S. trade partners in Asia, are considering buying more LNG and other energy products from the United States.
Since winning the U.S. presidential election in November, President Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on countries that don’t buy more U.S. energy and with which the U.S. has large trade deficits.
JERA, the largest LNG buyer in Japan, plans to boost purchases from the United States to diversify its supply portfolio, a top company executive told Reuters last week.
President Trump may raise discussions for the Alaska LNG project at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expected to take place early next month, according to Reuters’s sources.
Japan is ready to explore possible backing and other commitments to buy more U.S. LNG if asked, the officials told Reuters.
President Trump issued an executive order on Day 1 to unleash “Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential,” which includes “prioritize the development of Alaska’s LNG potential, including the permitting of all necessary pipeline and export infrastructure related to the Alaska LNG Project, giving due consideration to the economic and national security benefits associated with such development.”
State firm Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) seeks to advance the Alaska LNG project, which is designed to deliver North Slope natural gas to Alaskans and export LNG to U.S. allies across the Pacific. The project was authorized by President Trump’s administration in 2020, was reauthorized by President Biden’s administration in 2022, and is the only federally permitted LNG export facility on the U.S. West Coast, offering direct, canal-free shipping via uncontested waters to Asian markets, the Alaska state’s firm says.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
