US investor linked to Trump family explores Alaska gas project with Russian firm – NYT

A Texas investor with ties to the Trump family, Gentry Beach, has been exploring the possibility of striking deals with Russian companies and has said he quietly signed an agreement last autumn with one of Russia's biggest energy firms, Novatek, to develop natural gas in Alaska.

Source: The New York Time

Details: "Trump is a transactional president," Beach said in an interview. "I don't think people would have felt as comfortable working with Russian companies during the Biden administration as they do during the Trump administration."

The project is at an early stage and faces significant hurdles, and Beach declined to disclose financial details.

Novatek said it was "indeed having negotiations on the potential use" of its technology to liquefy natural gas in remote areas of northern Alaska but did not confirm it was working with Beach.

Beach's agreement could be the first time an American investor has formally entered into a new business deal with a major Russian company since the Kremlin began pushing potential dealmaking opportunities for the Trump administration a year ago.

Beach also said that "this project is known about at the highest levels" in Moscow and Washington. He said he would soon announce the names of executives who will lead it.

He also said he had agreed the deal during meetings in Dubai and Europe last year with billionaire Leonid Mikhelson, Novatek's chief executive, who is under UK and Canadian sanctions but not US or European Union sanctions.

Beach, a hedge fund and private equity investor, is described as a university friend of Donald Trump Jr, the US president's eldest son. He served as deputy chair for finance during Trump's inauguration in 2017.

Most US corporations that once saw Russia as a promising market with a growing middle class remain sceptical about returning because of political instability and limited potential profits.

Background:

• Novatek, which has close links to the Kremlin but is not state-controlled, is under partial US sanctions, while some of its subsidiaries face tougher restrictions.
• Beach said he was able to strike the deal legally because the United States has not imposed full sanctions on Novatek's parent company.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!