Glenfarne's Alaska LNG project sees $115 billion interest from over 50 firms

By Curtis Williams, Yuka Obayashi and Katya Golubkova

June 3 (Reuters) - Energy developer Glenfarne said on Tuesday that 50 firms had formally expressed interest in contracts worth more than $115 billion of its Alaska LNG project, a massive infrastructure deal championed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The ambitious proposal to transport gas from Alaska's far north across the vast state to the Gulf of Alaska via a 800-mile pipeline has been talked about for decades.

But Trump, who has pushed allies like Japan and South Korea to buy U.S. energy while threatening trade tariffs, has given it new impetus.

In a press release on Tuesday, Glenfarne said that its unit overseeing the project had completed the first round of its strategic partner selection process, receiving interest from firms from the United States, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, India, and the European Union.

Japan's top utility firm JERA is one of a number of Japanese companies that have expressed interest, according to two sources familiar with the matter, but Japan is still cautious in giving its firm support to the $44 billion project given its high costs.

A Glenfarne spokesperson declined comment. JERA declined to comment. Tokyo Gas 9531.T, Osaka Gas 9532.T and Kansai Electric Power 9503.T, other major Japanese LNG buyers, also declined comment.

Taiwan's state-run energy company CPC in March signed a non-binding agreement to buy liquefied natural gas and invest in the project, a move Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te has said would ensure the island's energy security.

If built, the Alaska LNG project will export up to 20 million metric tons per annum of the superchilled gas, according to the project document.

It would open direct access for U.S.-made LNG to Asian markets without having to go through the Panama Canal or around the Horn of Africa, reducing transit time and costs.

"Alaska LNG's economic fundamentals allow it to deliver LNG into Asia at prices that are lower than pricing from the U.S. Gulf Coast," Glenfarne said in a press release.

The U.S. is the world's largest exporter of LNG and could triple its export capacity by 2030 if ongoing projects and those expected to get the financial greenlight this year are successful.

Phase One of the project is expected to deliver natural gas about 765 miles from the North Slope to the Anchorage region.

Phase Two will add nearly 42 miles of pipeline under the Cook Inlet to the Alaska LNG export facility in Nikiski, which will be constructed simultaneously with the LNG export facility.

Glenfarne expects a final investment decision on the domestic portion of the Alaska LNG pipeline by the end of the fourth quarter this year.

Takashi Uchida, chairman of the Japan Gas Association, said on Tuesday there was still no clear path for how the project would be developed or brought to market and that it was too early to tell the final extent of Japanese industry involvement.