Trump Announces $80 Billion Taiwan LNG Deal | OilPrice.com
Tom Kool
Tom majored in International Business at Amsterdam’s Higher School of Economics and later completed an Executive MBA in Energy Transition at the University of Groningen.…
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By Tom Kool – Oct 14, 2026, 4:00 PM CDT
- Trump announces a potential $70–80 billion Taiwan LNG deal, covering 30% of Alaska LNG’s planned output over 20 years.
- South Korea disputes its proposed $50–54 billion investment, insisting participation depends on commercial viability.
- Alaska LNG offers a route around Hormuz, but enormous development costs and unfinalized agreements threaten the project’s future.
President Donald Trump has announced a massive new energy agreement with Taiwan, claiming the island will purchase between $70 billion and $80 billion worth of liquefied natural gas from Alaska over the next two decades, as Asian importers scramble to secure supplies beyond the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said Taiwan had committed to purchasing 30% of the planned Alaska LNG project’s output for 20 years, alongside a $4.4 billion equity investment.
The president described the arrangement as the largest LNG offtake agreement in history, arguing that the commitments would guarantee the project’s success.
BREAKING: Trump announces a $50 billion South Korean investment in Alaska’s LNG project, alongside a $70–80 billion gas purchase commitment from Taiwan over 20 years. Trump says Taiwan will also invest $4.4 billion in the project, calling it the largest energy infrastructure project in Alaska’s history.
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 14, 2026
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs subsequently confirmed plans to purchase approximately 6 million metric tons of LNG annually and invest up to $4.4 billion in the development.
However, Taipei stopped short of confirming a binding agreement, emphasizing that investment arrangements, ownership stakes and commercial terms remain subject to further negotiations.
Deliveries could begin as early as 2032, provided construction proceeds as planned.
The proposed Alaska LNG project, led by Glenfarne Group, would transport natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope through an approximately 800-mile pipeline to a liquefaction terminal on the state’s southern coast, with planned export capacity of 20 million metric tons annually.
Its geographical advantage has become increasingly attractive following the Iran war, which has severely disrupted LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Alaska offers Asian buyers a direct Pacific shipping route that avoids the Middle Eastern chokepoint entirely.
As Oilprice.com previously reported, the conflict has revived interest in the long-delayed project, with Asian importers increasingly prioritizing supply security over cost.
However, Alaska’s costly pipeline and difficult terrain threaten to outweigh its shipping advantage, with capital costs approaching $2.7 billion per million tonnes of annual LNG capacity. An October 7 article from Oilprice.com’s Natalia Katona concludes that geographical challenges may erode the project’s competitiveness in a world where LNG supply is expected to grow throughout the late 2020s and early 2030s.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that South Korea would invest approximately $50 billion to $54 billion in Alaska LNG as part of a broader bilateral investment agreement.
Seoul has since challenged that characterization.
South Korea’s industry minister, Kim Jung-kwan, said the country had not committed to the investment, stressing that participation would depend on commercial viability and compliance with domestic procedures, according to Reuters.
The uncertainty is significant given the project’s estimated $44 billion to $55 billion price tag.
Oilprice.com Tsvetana Paraskova highlighted earlier this month that Alaska LNG’s development costs could exceed those of competing U.S. Gulf Coast projects by more than twofold on a capacity-adjusted basis.
For Taiwan and South Korea, the attraction of bypassing Hormuz is undeniable. Whether that geopolitical advantage justifies tens of billions in additional investment remains the central question.
For now, Trump’s ambitious Alaska LNG vision has growing political momentum, but its commercial future still hinges on binding supply agreements, committed financing and final investment decisions.
By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com
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Tom Kool
Tom majored in International Business at Amsterdam’s Higher School of Economics and later completed an Executive MBA in Energy Transition at the University of Groningen.…
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