Trump claims Taiwan has confirmed purchase of 30% of LNG from Alaska pipeline project

US President Donald Trump says Taiwan has committed to buy 30% of LNG from Alaska’s pipeline project, Reuters reported on October 13.

The claim was made at a rally in Alaska with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoing Trump’s proclamation, although deal terms were not specified.

According to Lutnick, Taiwan will finance $4.4bn of the development of the pipeline. The pipeline would extend about 1,300 km stretching from Alaska's North Slope, where the gas resources are located, to an LNG export terminal near Nikiski in southern Alaska.

Estimates put the cost of construction at between $44bn and $54bn with the project having a production capacity of 20mn tonnes per year (tpy).

Alaska LNG has already lined up agreements ​covering 13mn tpy of super-chilled fuel from buyers in Asia and French major TotalEnergies. Among the companies that have already inked tentative deals are Taiwan’s CPC.

Japan’s JERA and Tokyo Gas, Thailand’s PTT and TotalEnergies are among other companies that have signed preliminary agreements linked to the project. Financing for the project is contingent on securing agreements for another 3mn tpy and these agreements need to be turned into binding deals.

If developed, Alaska LNG would benefit from its ideal location of the US’s west coast, which provides it with direct access free of having to use canals and pay toll fees to ship LNG cargoes to key buyers in Asia, particularly East Asia more quickly and cheaply than competitor suppliers.

Taiwan’s participation in buying US LNG from the Alaska project was previously reported in February. At that time, Chairman of Taiwan’s state-run CPC Corp, Fang Jeng-zen said, "We plan to increase purchases of natural gas from the U.S. to 30%-33% this year from about 10% now."