Japan under pressure from U.S. to invest in Alaska LNG pipeline

Japan Times

14-05-2025

Japan is facing increasing pressure from the United States to formally invest in the Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline which, if completed, would provide U.S. LNG to Japan via the shortest available route between the two countries.
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the possibility of a joint venture with Japan over the project during a summit with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and in March, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy visited Tokyo to lobby the government and private industry. A possible high-level energy summit in Alaska early next month could see further pressure by the U.S. on Japan to sign up for the project.
Still, Japan's participation in the $44 billion (nearly ¥6.7 trillion) pipeline is anything but certain as energy firms remain skeptical of the project's profitability and viability.
Takashi Uchida, the president of the Japan Gas Association, which represents all of Japan's major gas companies, told an April 23 news conference that even though the basic design plans had yet to be finalized, it was already clear the project was going to be extremely costly.
The Trump administration is not giving up, however, and the question of Japan's pipeline investment has taken on an additional political element due to the threat of increased tariffs on Japanese autos and auto parts, suspended until July 9 to give the two countries time to negotiate a deal.
After Trump announced the tariffs last month, some energy firms cautiously indicated they might be open to discussions about getting involved in the Alaska LNG pipeline.
An executive at JERA, Japan's largest power provider, told an April 28 news conference that the company would like to consider Alaska as one promising LNG supplier, but among various other options.
Last month, The New York Times and Reuters reported that the Trump administration's National Energy Dominance Council plans to convene a high-level summit in Anchorage with potential investors from Japan and South Korea in early June to push the Alaska LNG pipeline project.
If the summit takes place, it will be around the time of the June 3-5 Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, which will discuss current and future LNG investment, among other topics. Dunleavy, Alaska's governor, strongly backs the sustainable energy conference.
The Alaska LNG pipeline, if built, would run from the state's North Slope area in the far north down to the Nikiski LNG export facility just below Anchorage, in the southern part of the state. The North Slope has 35 trillion cubic feet (about 991 billion cubic meters) of proven conventional LNG reserves, and potential reserves of 235 trillion cubic feet.
Shipments from the Nikiski terminal could reach Japan and South Korea in about a week, with no strategic choke points, said Alaska's Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Where the money for the pipeline will come from remains unclear. And yet, official plans call for construction to begin next year and for LNG to begin flowing by 2028. The Nikiski facility is expected to be completed in 2030, with the first LNG exports to East Asia sometime after that.
Whether that schedule is realistic or not remains to be seen. The dream of a Trans-Alaska LNG pipeline has been around for decades, and U.S. officials have tried in the past to interest Japan in more Alaskan LNG.
In May 2012, Lisa Murkowski, who serves as a co-chair of the Congressional Study Group of Japan and received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in 2024 for her contributions to U.S.-Japan parliamentary relations, met with then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Washington to discuss the pipeline, saying it could deliver long-term, stable energy supplies to Japan at a reasonable price.
At the time, Japan was still reeling from the March 11, 2011, Tohoku earthquake and triple reactor meltdown, and was looking at other energy sources like LNG to replace nuclear power. Murkowski pushed the pipeline as a way to meet Japan's long-term energy needs.
Her meeting with Noda came after he and then-U.S. President Barack Obama had met and discussed the possibility of more U.S. LNG imports to Japan. It also came after Alaskan LNG exports to Japan from Cook Inlet in southern Alaska, which had begun in 1969, were halted in 2011 due to a lack of availability and local demand in Anchorage.
Alaska, however, is not the only place in the U.S. that exports LNG. In 2024, Japan imported ¥542.6 billion ($3.8 billion) of LNG from the U.S., mostly from the Gulf Coast region, though the gas must be shipped through the Panama Canal, which adds to the delivery time and cost.
By country, the U.S., with a share of 8.7%, was the fourth-biggest LNG exporter to Japan after Australia, Malaysia and Russia.