Alleged Russian Funding Prompts Executive Exodus at U.S. LNG Firm

The top executives of U.S. energy startup Polar LNG have all resigned in recent weeks, just six months after the company was launched, amid a controversy over alleged funding and control of the venture’s strategy by Russia’s biggest LNG developer and exporter, privately-held Novatek.

The senior managers who left Polar LNG say they resigned in September after learning earlier during the month that Novatek was at least partly funding the U.S. company, which looks to build a project on Alaska’s North Slope.

Polar LNG was created in March 2026, pitching its proposed North Slope location as offering “one of the shortest shipping routes from North America to key Asian markets” to expand U.S. LNG exports to Asia.

Polar LNG also specifically said it “is not in competition with the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline. The North Slope contains far more gas than any single project can develop, and success depends on advancing multiple efforts in parallel.”

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