TotalEnergies has inked a preliminary 20-year agreement, which is related to the purchase of 2 million tons of LNG per year from the proposed Alaska LNG facility, hence in a way re-establishing its position of being the largest exporter of U.S. liquefied natural gas and also deepening its exposure to the markets across Asia.
On February 25, 2026, the company went on to confirm that it has gone ahead with a letter of intent with the lead developer of the Alaska LNG project, Glenfarne, when it comes to the long-term offtake of 2 million metric tons per annum – Mtpa of LNG, conditional on a final investment decision.
The proposed Alaska LNG facility, which is located on the U.S. Pacific coast, is built with a planned export capacity of 20 Mtpa and is at present the only LNG export terminal in that region that is federally authorized. Its Pacific direction goes on to offer direct shipping routes to Asia, which is the largest LNG-consuming market in the world, thereby potentially shortening the voyage times as compared to the U.S. Gulf Coast cargoes that transit the Panama Canal.
When it comes to TotalEnergies, the agreement syncs well with a much broader strategy pertaining to consolidating its role of being a leading buyer as well as marketer of U.S. LNG while at the same time diversifying the supply sources throughout basins. It is well to be noted that the French major was the top exporter of U.S. LNG in 2025, as it lifted 19 Mt, which is equivalent to almost 18% of the overall U.S. production, with most of the volumes directed towards Europe amid the ongoing efforts in order to replace the Russian pipeline gas.
Apparently, it is expected that the Alaska deal would further go on to rebalance the geographic portfolio of the company toward Asia, where the structural LNG demand growth is getting driven due to coal-to-gas switching, expansion of industries, and also considerations regarding energy security. Direct Pacific access could as well improve the competitiveness in price along with logistical flexibility, especially for the Northeast Asian buyers.
The fact is that this project also carries some political weight. Apparently, Alaska LNG has gone ahead and secured the federal authorization and is well-positioned in terms of being a strategic infrastructure asset, which is aimed at making the U.S. energy ties with Asian allies more robust and stable. Its backers go on to argue that its location could as well decrease the shipping bottlenecks and also enhance resilience when it comes to transpacific gas trade.
Notably, the North American LNG footprint of TotalEnergies already takes into account equity stakes along with long-term offtake positions across major export facilities, which includes the likes of Cameron LNG as well as Rio Grande LNG in the U.S., Energia Costa Azul located in Mexico, and Ksi Lisims LNG based out of Canada. The company, in addition to this, lifts volumes from Freeport LNG, Sabine Pass, and Corpus Christi. In terms of upstream, it goes on to maintain gas production assets across the states of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Interestingly, across the world, TotalEnergies ranks as the third-largest LNG player in the world, as it boasted of a 44 Mt per year portfolio in 2025. The integrated model that it has covers upstream production, shipping, liquefaction,
regasification, especially in Europe, where it goes on to control over 20 Mt per year in terms of capacity that involves trading as well as LNG bunkering.
The company has gone on to set a target of raising natural gas to almost 50% of its sales mix by the end of the decade, hence positioning gas as a transition fuel to lower carbon intensity while at the same time pledging to cut methane emissions throughout its value chain.
While the Alaska LNG offtake is subject to FID, the initial agreement does signal a growing commercial push behind a project that has been long discussed; however, it is yet to reach that final green light. If the project gets sanctioned, the development would indeed mark a major expansion when it comes to U.S. LNG export capacity as far as the Pacific coast is concerned and, in a way, also reinforce the role of TotalEnergies at the very epicenter of the worldwide LNG trade.
