Ex-head of Alaska gas project says Novatek secretly financed Polar Train LNG
According to The New York Times and Financial Times, as relayed by several outlets, Russia's Novatek funded a $25 billion LNG project in Alaska without disclosure. The project's former head resigned after learning of it.
The New York Times and the Financial Times report that Russia’s Novatek financed an American project to build an LNG plant in Alaska, valued at $25 billion. Mediazona, The Insider, Novaya Gazeta Europe and Ukrainska Pravda relay the report; the items available to us do not include the original articles.
According to Novaya Gazeta Europe’s summary of the two newspapers, the money went to the US-based company through its parent company in the United Arab Emirates. The project’s former head says he was misled about where the funds came from, and that he resigned after he found out about the Russian financing.
Ukrainska Pravda writes that almost the entire management team has left the company following allegations of undisclosed financing and control by Novatek. The Insider says the former head accused Novatek of secretly financing the company and controlling it.
The company, launched in March, proposes to build the LNG plant at Milne Point on Alaska’s Arctic coast. The items do not contain responses from Novatek or the company, and the allegations come from the former head and the newspapers’ reporting, not from documents we have seen.