Texas Investor Gentry Beach to Deploy Russian LNG Tech on North Slope

Gentry Beach, a 50-year-old Texas investor and owner of America First LNG, is advancing a plan called Polar Eagle to install movable liquefaction facilities on Alaska’s North Slope and ship liquefied natural gas to Asian buyers, saying the project is licensed to use technology developed by Russia’s Novatek and could cost about $20 billion. Beach says the operation would be a U.S.-controlled facility on U.S. soil and that liquefaction units being built at Novatek’s construction center in Murmansk - gravity-based, movable platforms - would be deployed to Alaska and serve markets via tankers, including specialized ice-breaking vessels, with possible deliveries to Southcentral Alaska.

Beach says he quietly signed an agreement last year and that he met Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson during negotiations in Dubai and Europe last fall. Novatek has confirmed it is engaged in talks over the possible use of its liquefaction technology on the North Slope but declined to identify the counterpart and said any arrangement would require approval by both Russian and U.S. authorities. After meeting Mr. Trump in Alaska last August, Vladimir Putin said, "we are discussing with our American partners" the possibility of using Novatek technology to produce LNG in Alaska.

The proposal arrives amid a complex sanctions and regulatory environment. U.S. Treasury sanctions targeted the Arctic LNG 2 project in November 2023, several vessels including the Saam were sanctioned earlier, and Treasury measures expanded in May 2024 to include several heavy-lift carriers essential to moving large modules. Many entities tied to Arctic LNG 2 remain under Western sanctions, and Beach acknowledges the project would need approvals; Western companies have shown hesitancy to do business with Russian firms while the war in Ukraine continues. The Polar Eagle plan also faces the practical hurdle of securing participation by larger energy companies that would supply North Slope gas to a new liquefaction facility.

Beach argues Polar Eagle would create jobs and state revenue and is focused on a long horizon. "I think you’ll see huge, huge revenue opportunities in Alaska from this, and I think you’ll see lots and lots of jobs," he said, adding, "Look, I want to focus on these opportunities for the next 30 years" and "This is not a short-term thing for us. We have a long history of executing on projects, and we’re going to do that here." He told national outlets, "It’s time for all of us to work together," and described Mikhelson as "very pro-American."

Beach contrasts Polar Eagle’s price tag with the longer-standing Alaska LNG estimate, saying his project could cost about $20 billion versus roughly $44 billion for the state-backed Alaska LNG plan. He also insists Polar Eagle "will not compete with the ongoing Alaska LNG megaproject," even as observers note it could be seen as a cheaper alternative or a complement to proposed pipeline routes to southern Alaska.

Key details remain unverified: there is no public copy of the agreement Beach cites, no confirmed filings with state or federal permitting agencies, no named Asian buyers, and no disclosed financing commitments to underwrite the $20 billion build. Before any movable Novatek platform is constructed or shipped to the North Slope, U.S. regulatory approvals, Treasury determinations on sanctions, and commitments from major energy partners and lenders will be required, leaving Polar Eagle’s timeline and feasibility uncertain for communities and officials across Alaska’s North Slope.