Glenfarne Says Iran War Highlights Alaska LNG’s Advantage, Sees Supply to South Korea

Interview with CEO Adam Prestidge

"Natural gas produced in Alaska can reach Asia without passing through any chokepoints."

Adam Prestidge, chief executive officer of Glenfarne Alaska, which is developing the Alaska LNG project, told the Korea Economic Daily in a recent phone interview that the situation in the Middle East and around the Strait of Hormuz shows why the project is uniquely positioned to supply reliable and secure natural gas to U.S. allies in Asia.

Alaska LNG has a direct route to South Korea and Japan. The route runs largely through U.S. territorial waters along the Aleutian Islands, he said. It has been used to export gas to Japan for the past 50 years without a single shipping disruption or interruption. It also avoids chokepoints including the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal and the South China Sea, he added.

Asked whether Japan’s agreement to import Alaskan crude after the start of the Iran war was linked to the LNG project, Prestidge said they were separate projects. Still, higher oil production in northern Alaska could help the LNG project by increasing industrial activity in the region.

The Alaska LNG project is divided into two phases: construction of a pipeline and construction of an LNG terminal. Prestidge said the two are connected, with costs from the first-phase pipeline reflected in pricing for the second-phase terminal and gas sales, or offtake, contracts.

Glenfarne is currently focused on securing offtake agreements. It needs firm gas supply contracts for 16 million metric tons a year, or 80% of expected output, to finance the second-phase terminal. As of late last month, the company had obtained letters of intent covering 13 million metric tons a year, but not many of those have yet become binding purchase contracts. The Iran war has increased the need to diversify supply sources, but uncertainty over the price outlook is still making companies hesitant about investment decisions.

Glenfarne said a commercial feasibility review of the project was completed in December 2025. The company said it is confident the project is economically viable, though the details are confidential. Prestidge said Glenfarne is in talks with multiple LNG buyers in South Korea and can supply gas to the country at market-competitive prices. In an interview with the Korea Economic Daily in August 2025, he said Alaska LNG would be 20% to 30% cheaper than supply produced in places such as the U.S. Gulf Coast. This time, Glenfarne did not provide a specific price and asked that the August 2025 estimate be cited again.

Glenfarne Alaska plans to connect a 1,200-kilometer gas pipeline from northern gas fields to Anchorage in the south by 2029 and begin supplying gas to Alaska residents that year. It also aims to build an LNG terminal in Nikiski, near Anchorage, by 2031 and start exports. A Glenfarne Alaska official said the project is proceeding on schedule without disruption.

Glenfarne Alaska, whose energy development business has been focused mainly on the U.S. South, including Texas, secured control of the project by buying a 75% stake from the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. in May 2025. AGDC had previously led the Alaska LNG project. Glenfarne Alaska, with 75%, and AGDC, with 25%, are joint shareholders in 8 Star Alaska, the entity established to advance the project.

Lee Sang-eun, Korea Economic Daily correspondent in Washington selee@hankyung.com