Nearly the entire executive leadership of Polar Train LNG has resigned over allegations that the 25 billion dollar Alaska gas export venture was secretly financed and directed by Novatek, the Russian gas producer, before any United States approval for working with the company, the Financial Times reported. Chief executive Joel Riddle resigned in September, followed by chief financial officer Dan Chandra, executive vice president Jim Smith and executive manager Jody Trantham.
Riddle, a former ExxonMobil engineer recruited to lead the company, said he had believed the startup funding came from investor Gentry Beach, who has ties to the family of President Donald Trump, and from Tech Wave, an Abu Dhabi based company led by businessmen who previously worked for Novatek. He said he later learned that Beach had not invested and was not a shareholder, officer or director, and that Novatek was supplying the capital. “I resigned as chief executive of Polar LNG because I felt uncomfortable that the Russian company Novatek was financing and ultimately controlling the strategic direction of the company,” he told the newspaper. The Financial Times said it had seen correspondence in which a senior Novatek representative discussed financing arrangements and pressing for faster transfers of funds.
Polar Train LNG is developing a gas export terminal on Alaska’s North Slope to supply Asian markets, launched in March, and the plan involved repurposing a partially built Novatek terminal design for installation in Alaska, using Russian liquefaction technology. People familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times the project had also featured in talks between Washington and Moscow over commercial arrangements linked to ending the war in Ukraine.
The company disputes the account. Polar LNG described Riddle as a disgruntled employee, said he had been terminated, and maintained that its development activities comply with applicable United States laws. The allegations are contested and do not by themselves establish that sanctions law was broken. What is not contested is the departure itself: a venture at the centre of the administration’s push to expand American energy exports has lost almost its whole executive team six weeks before the midterm elections, with its funding now a public question.