Polar LNG Executives Quit Alaska Project, Allege Russia's Novatek Was Funding and Steering It; Company Denies

Since Polar LNG was launched in March 2026 to build a $25 billion gas export terminal on Alaska's North Slope, nearly its entire senior team has walked out, and the former CEO says the reason is Russian money.

Joel Riddle, who led the company, told the Financial Times on Oct. 23 that he resigned in September because he came to believe Russia's Novatek was financing the venture and ultimately steering its strategy. "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 said.

These are allegations. No U.S. authority has publicly found a sanctions violation.

The project and the pending Treasury request

Polar LNG wants to process and liquefy North Slope gas at the source using a modular gravity-based structure. The plan is to buy an unfinished structure from Novatek and move it to Alaska.

Because of Novatek's Russian ties, the company applied to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for authorization. That approval has not been granted.

Washington has not sanctioned Novatek itself. It did blacklist Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 project in 2023, and that project's expansion has since stalled.

In an Oct. 23 statement, Polar LNG said it had finished summer fieldwork and begun preliminary engineering with American contractors. It is targeting first gas deliveries by the end of 2030, subject to permits and financing.

What the former executives allege

Riddle says he learned during summer talks about new funding that Novatek was already financing Polar LNG and directing its operations before any U.S. approvals were in hand.

He says he had believed the money came from Abu Dhabi-based engineering firm Tech Wave and from Gentry Beach, an investor with ties to the Trump family. Riddle says Beach later turned out not to be an investor, shareholder or executive in the project.

Almost all of the company's top managers followed Riddle out, including CFO Dan Chandra, executive vice president Jim Smith and execution manager Jody Trantham.

The Financial Times said it reviewed WhatsApp messages in which Denis Solovyov, a Novatek board member, discussed financing for Polar LNG and pressed for a faster transfer of funds.

Two former executives told The Wall Street Journal this weekend that senior Polar LNG leaders raised their concerns about Novatek's role with the Trump administration in early September, and that government officials shared those concerns. Sources told the Journal that Bjorn Gundersen, a former Novatek executive, is now at Tech Wave.

What Polar LNG, Novatek and the White House say

Polar LNG rejects the account. The company calls Riddle a "disgruntled former employee" and says he was dismissed, not that he resigned. It says the project is being developed in line with U.S. law.

Novatek denies controlling the American venture. The company says it agreed to let Tech Wave use its technology in Alaska and signed a memorandum with Polar LNG in April, before Riddle left. It says the Alaska cooperation has nothing to do with sanctions relief.

The White House said the project was only briefly discussed with the administration and that there were no detailed negotiations.

That sits awkwardly beside the former executives' claim that they raised the issue with administration officials in early September. The two accounts have not been reconciled publicly.

The sanctions-relief question

Sources who spoke to the Financial Times said Washington and Moscow have discussed an arrangement in which Novatek would help build an Alaska terminal and the U.S. could ease sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 in return. The talks were part of broader discussions about business deals that might help end Russia's war in Ukraine.

Novatek disputes that the two are linked. No U.S. official has confirmed such a swap on the record.

The backdrop is a tight gas market. European prices hit a four-year high above €94/MWh on Oct. 23 as buyers scrambled for winter supply, which is part of why new export capacity is attractive to developers and policymakers.

What to watch

The open decision belongs to OFAC. The agency has not said whether it will authorize Polar LNG to buy the Novatek structure, and it has not commented on whether it is examining the funding claims.

The disputed facts are narrow and checkable: who put money into Polar LNG, when, and whether any of it came from Novatek before authorization. Riddle says Novatek funded the company early. Polar LNG and Novatek say it did not control the project. Treasury's answer on the license, and any disclosure of the company's funding records, would settle more than the competing statements have.