FT: Russia secretly financed a gas project in Alaska involving the Trump family

Several leading American energy executives have resigned from the Alaska-based startup Polar LNG after it emerged that Russian gas giant Novatek had secretly financed the $25 billion project, potentially with the involvement of members of Donald Trump’s family. Source: Financial Times

Founded in the spring, the company planned to acquire partially completed infrastructure from the Russian Arctic LNG 2 plant, which is under sanctions, and transport it to Alaska’s North Slope to expand local gas exports. However, internal reviews and budget meetings revealed that key strategic and financial decisions were being controlled by Russian representatives who were circumventing U.S. sanctions.

The startup’s former CEO and ExxonMobil veteran Joel Riddle left his post after discovering that the project’s real levers of control were in the hands of former Novatek executives who had joined through an Abu Dhabi engineering firm. Other key American executives followed suit, concerned about serious regulatory risks. It emerged that the project’s backers had sought support from the White House and the Trump family’s inner circle, hoping to obtain a special license from the U.S. Treasury Department to acquire blocked equipment. Nevertheless, the exposed links to Russian capital and political lobbying completely undermined the venture’s economic and legal foundations. The project also faced insurmountable engineering challenges in the harsh Arctic conditions.

Experts say the scandal clearly demonstrates the vulnerability of the U.S. energy sector to covert geopolitical maneuvering and attempts to revive Russian assets under sanctions.

Attempts to use high-level political connections to legitimize questionable deals triggered a bitter internal conflict and a mass exodus of senior executives, casting doubt on the future of the entire initiative to develop Alaska’s natural gas reserves. Under stringent sanctions, any attempts to circumvent restrictions through intermediaries in third countries are now attracting close scrutiny from U.S. regulators.

Recall that Trump blocked the “hellish” sanctions against Russia almost immediately after they were signed.