A group of Japanese companies interested in a large Alaska liquefied natural gas project are getting a cool reception from the administration of Gov. Sean Parnell. The group has been talking with the administration on and off since summer, and would like to develop a large LNG plant either in Valdez or Cook Inlet they would own, with the pipeline owned by other parties. However, they have been asking for some form of Memorandum of Understanding with the state, similar to an MOU Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration signed with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority in 2004, indicating that the state and the Japanese group would work together on a feasibility study. The president of the Japanese company has been in Alaska since mid-November attemping to meet with the state, but has not been able to arrange a meeting. The group is about to terminate its Alaska project and look elsewhere, we’re told.