A group of American energy executives has quit a startup that planned to liquefy and export natural gas from Alaska after learning it was secretly funded by Russian gas giant Novatek. The departures, reported Friday by The New York Times and the Financial Times, have turned a $25 billion Alaska gas project into a diplomatic problem.
Polar LNG launched in March with a plan to buy a half-finished piece of Russian equipment, under sanctions since the Biden administration, and use it to export gas from beneath Alaska’s North Slope. The equipment was available at a knockdown price because of the sanctions, and the project fit the Trump administration’s goal of American energy dominance.
Joel Riddle, Polar’s chief executive until September and a former ExxonMobil employee, told the Times he resigned after discovering the funding source. He said he had been led to believe the startup capital came from a firm in the United Arab Emirates, when at least some of it came from Novatek, one of Russia’s largest energy companies, which is under partial US sanctions. Riddle said he felt uncomfortable that Novatek was financing and ultimately controlling the company’s strategic direction. Other senior executives left with him.
Text messages reviewed by both papers show Novatek executives, including deputy chairman Denis Solovyov and chief executive Leonid Mikhelson, discussing transfers of up to $15 million to the UAE firm. Novatek has confirmed to the Times that it is seeking minority shareholder status in the project and intends to supply technology.
The project had also entered the diplomacy around ending the war in Ukraine. The Times reported that President Vladimir Putin discussed the deal with US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff last month, though there is no indication either envoy knew about the Novatek ties. Trump temporarily waived the Russia sanctions law last week, saying the move was needed to keep peace talks alive. The White House, Treasury and State Departments did not return requests for comment, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
