EL7.AI
GeopoliticsMedium•24 October 2026•
4 min read

Alaska’s $25 Billion Gas Project Faces Questions Over Novatek Ties

Key Facts

1The Financial Times valued the Alaska gas project at $25 billion in the headline of its report on officials leaving amid allegations of secret Russian control.
2Polar LNG’s project aims to begin delivering gas by the end of 2030, subject to permits, financing and completion of development.
3The separate Alaska LNG project has a design capacity of 20 million metric tons per year and includes a pipeline of about 807 miles.
4Polar LNG applied to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for a license to buy an unfinished gravity-based structure from Novatek.

The Financial Times reported on October 24 that U.S. officials had left a $25 billion gas project in Alaska amid allegations of secret Russian control. The report puts the project under scrutiny over financing and sanctions compliance, but the available facts do not show a U.S.-Russia trade to lift sanctions on Arctic LNG 2. Polar LNG said Novatek is a potential seller of an unfinished gravity-based structure and that it has applied for a U.S. license to complete the purchase. The license application does not establish that authorities have approved it, and the project’s $25 billion value appeared in the newspaper’s headline. The case shifts attention to the source of the proposed structure, the regulatory approval process, and the project’s ability to attract capital and partners.

According to a statement issued by Polar LNG on October 23, TechWave provided financing to the company and began preliminary engineering work with U.S. contractors. Polar LNG said the project is seeking to attract U.S. investors and execution partners, indicating that its financing and execution arrangements remain under development. The company says its engineering approach relies on gravity-based structures and liquefied natural gas equipment solutions, with the participation of international manufacturers, including U.S. companies. The purchase of the unfinished structure from Novatek remains a proposal subject to a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on the license. The company’s statement did not mention an agreement to lift or trade sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 for participation in the Alaska project.

Allegations of secret Russian control appeared in the context of officials leaving the project, according to the Financial Times report’s headline, while Polar LNG offered its account concerning one of those making the allegations. The company said Joel Riddle is a former employee whose employment was terminated, and that development work is being conducted in accordance with U.S. law. This remains the company’s account of Riddle and the project’s compliance, set against the allegations reported by the newspaper. In its statement, the company linked the matter to its application to the Treasury Department for a license to buy the structure from Novatek, a private Russian company. OFAC had listed Arctic LNG 2 among prohibited entities in a Russia-related update dated November 2, 2023; this provides context for sanctions on the Russian project, but does not establish that there was a trade involving the Alaska project.

In the leadership change announced in the statement, Tim Tuckington, president of Polar Eagle LNG, was named interim chief executive of Polar Train LNG. Polar LNG said he has more than 30 years of experience in investment banking, including more than 17 years at Goldman Sachs. It added that he headed Goldman Sachs Bank Russia through August 2022. Tuckington said the United States faces "a generational opportunity to strengthen its energy leadership." In his statement, he linked this vision to benefits for Alaska and the U.S. presence in Arctic shipping, according to the company.

Polar LNG’s project aims to begin delivering gas by the end of 2030, subject to completion of permits, financing, engineering and other development requirements. That means securing a license to buy the structure and obtaining investors and execution partners remain necessary milestones before the target delivery date. The project should be distinguished from Alaska LNG, a separate project in south-central Alaska that the federal permitting site lists with a design capacity of up to 20 million metric tons of LNG per year. Alaska LNG’s design includes a pipeline of about 807 miles, and the site records completion of its environmental review and permitting process on December 10, 2025. Ownership of 8 Star Alaska LLC, the owner of the Alaska LNG project according to a Department of Energy report, is split between the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation with a 25% stake and Glenfarne with a 75% stake.