Newspapers: Russia's Novatek Funds Alaska Gas Terminal Project
Russian gas company Novatek is funding an LNG terminal project in Alaska and effectively directs the US firm Polar Train LNG, the Financial Times and The New York Times report, citing its former chief executive. The company says its work complies with US law.
Russian natural gas producer Novatek is financing the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Alaska and effectively shapes the strategy of the US company carrying out the project, Polar Train LNG, according to the Financial Times and The New York Times. Both cite Polar's former chief executive, Joel Ridle. The matter is significant because Novatek's Arctic LNG-2 terminal is subject to US sanctions, and dealing with a Russian company required permission from the US Treasury Department.
The project and its scale
Polar, founded in March 2026, plans to build an LNG production and export terminal in northern Alaska. The project's cost is estimated at $25 billion. The company intended to use equipment and technology employed at Novatek's Arctic LNG-2 terminal.
The Abu Dhabi meeting
In August, executives of Polar and its parent company, Tech Wave Industrial Projects Management, met at the Four Seasons hotel in Abu Dhabi. Ridle says he first believed the project was funded by the US investor Gentry Beach, which is linked to the family of US President Donald Trump, together with Tech Wave. According to The New York Times, Novatek management representatives also took part in the talks. Ridle says he then discovered that Novatek was already financing the project and effectively running Polar, even though US approvals had not yet been received. He resigned in September, and several other senior executives later left as well.
Links to Novatek
The newspaper notes that Tech Wave's chief operating officer, Bjorn Gundersen, previously worked at Novatek, as did another senior Tech Wave executive, Ahmed Fargali. The paper also obtained correspondence in which Novatek deputy chairman Denis Solovyov and company head Leonid Mikhelson discussed providing $15 million to Tech Wave's Alaska project. Solovyov wrote to Ridle in early September that all necessary decisions had been made at the Abu Dhabi meeting and that the first five million were due by that day.
Ridle and other departed executives told representatives of the Trump administration about their concerns.
The companies' response
Polar told the newspapers that Ridle was dismissed for serious reasons and that construction complies fully with US law. However, documents seen by The New York Times indicate Ridle submitted his resignation six days before the company sent him notice of immediate dismissal. Novatek says it agreed to grant Abu Dhabi-based Tech Wave the right to use its technology in Alaska and signed a memorandum of understanding with Polar in April, while Ridle still led it.
