# Polar LNG An American company formed to build a **$25 billion** liquefied natural gas liquefaction and export terminal on **Alaska's North Slope**, intended to ship Alaskan gas to Asian markets. The project also appears in reporting as **Polar Train**. It is on this wiki for one reason: in October 2026 its own former chief executive said publicly that the money behind it was Russian, and the Russian company in question — [[Novatek]] — confirmed to the *New York Times* that it meant to become a shareholder. ## The resignations **Joel Riddle**, the chief executive, resigned in **September 2026**. His account, given to the *Financial Times*, is that he had been led to believe the financing came from **Tech Wave**, a firm based in Abu Dhabi, and from **Gentry Beach**, an American businessman — and that he stepped down on concluding that at least part of it originated with Novatek, which he said was also setting the company's strategic direction. Most of the senior management team left with him or shortly after, including the chief financial officer, **Dan Chandra**, and executive vice president **Jim Smith**. Riddle also said Beach — a longtime friend of [[Donald Trump Jr.]] who served as a finance vice-chairman of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, and with whom the venture was initially publicly associated — had not in fact invested and held no ownership stake or executive position. > [!warning] The company disputes this > Polar LNG's current management rejects Riddle's account, describes him as a disgruntled former employee, and says the project complies with applicable U.S. law. The company has said it sought U.S. government authorization to use the Russian-made equipment. The White House confirmed that project representatives had contacted the administration but characterized the contact as brief and said it never became substantive negotiation. ## The Russian equipment The terminal was to be built around **partially completed liquefaction trains and modules originally manufactured for Arctic LNG 2**, Novatek's Siberian plant, which OFAC designated under full blocking sanctions on November 2, 2023 and which has been unable to sell its output since. Repurposing that hardware for a project on U.S. soil requires U.S. authorization, which the project did not have. Reported elements of the arrangement: - A **memorandum of understanding** between Novatek and the project signed in **April 2026**. - Novatek's acknowledgment of an agreement permitting use of its LNG technology in Alaska. - Correspondence from **Denis Soloviev**, a senior Novatek representative, obtained by the *Financial Times*, discussing financing and accelerating transfers to the American side. - Discussion among Novatek executives of routing up to **$15 million** through Tech Wave. - Sources telling both the *Times* and the *Financial Times* that the understanding was that Novatek would help build the Alaska terminal in exchange for the United States lifting the Arctic LNG 2 sanctions. Novatek denies any such linkage. ## Why it matters The project sits at the intersection of two things the wiki tracks separately. It is an energy deal, and it is a channel. [[Steve Witkoff]] and [[Jared Kushner]] — [[Donald Trump]]'s envoys to the Russia–Ukraine negotiations, neither a career diplomat — met [[Vladimir Putin]] in the Kremlin in September 2026, and according to the *Times* cooperation involving Novatek was among the subjects. That is the same channel through which Putin proposed that an American consortium buy [[Lukoil]]'s overseas assets. In both cases the asset is cheap because of sanctions and valuable without them, and in both cases the people negotiating the sanctions are connected to the people who would own the asset. What distinguishes Polar LNG is geography. The Lukoil proposal moved American money toward Russian assets abroad. This one would have put sanctioned Russian equipment and concealed Russian financing into infrastructure inside the United States, through a third-country intermediary, weeks after the statute that would have barred it was waived. ## See Also - [[Novatek]] — the reported source of the financing - [[Lukoil]] — the parallel proposal from the same negotiating channel - [[Russia Sanctions Relief Ledger]] — the dated record of easings and pressure - [[Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026]] — the waived statute that named Novatek's Arctic projects - [[Steve Witkoff]] · [[Jared Kushner]] — the negotiating channel - [[Arctic Geopolitics]] — the wider resource competition - [[Secondary Sanctions]]