Alaska is aiming for the status of a major gas hub, but the path there splits in two. Two separate projects — Alaska LNG and Polar LNG — are competing for the same resource: North Slope gas, which today is almost entirely reinjected into reservoirs to support oil production. The competitors’ designs, budgets, and timelines differ radically.
Alaska LNG, backed by Glenfarne Group, follows the classic route. Gas from North Slope fields would be piped over a long pipeline to a terminal in Nikiski, where an onshore liquefaction plant would be built. The project’s total budget ceiling reaches $54.5 billion, with the lion’s share — up to $17 billion — going toward the pipeline alone. The road to a final investment decision isn’t yet clear: state lawmakers haven’t approved tax incentives, and the company still needs to secure contracts for three million tonnes of LNG out of a planned twenty million tonnes per year.
Polar LNG proposes a different logic. Gas would be liquefied directly on the North Slope, without hundreds of miles of pipeline. Its first phase is valued far more modestly — at $8–9 billion, with a capacity of seven million tonnes per year. A separate wrinkle: the project team is exploring the possibility of acquiring modules that were partially built for Arctic LNG 2. This would require separate regulatory approvals.
The stakes are high because Alaska is really a tale of two different gas worlds. Cook Inlet remains the only basin supplying fuel directly to state consumers, providing about 70% of electricity in south-central Alaska. The North Slope accounts for the bulk of production, but nearly all of that gas is reinjected underground. Commercial sales in 2024 amounted to only about 10.5 billion cubic meters.
According to EIA data from early 2025, US proven gas reserves totaled 16.53 trillion cubic meters. Alaska accounts for 16.8% of that — third place after Texas and Pennsylvania. It is precisely this resource that both projects are trying to bring to the global market.
Alaska faces a choice between an expensive but proven scheme and a more compact but riskier approach. Which project secures contracts, incentives, and permits first will determine whether the North Slope becomes a new export hub or the gas remains reinjected into the ground.
Source: TsDU TEK
Image: Ramunas Bruzas
