Fifty companies, including South Korean businesses, took part in a process to select "strategic partners" in Alaska's liquefied natural gas(LNG) development project.

According to Reuters on Tuesday, energy developer Glenfarne, a key party in the project, said 50 firms from South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, India and the European Union have expressed interest in the first stage in the process.

Glenfarne said the projects concerning supplies of equipment and materials, service and investment which the firms have shown interest in are worth more than 115 billion U.S. dollars.

Citing sources, Reuters said Japan's top utility firm JERA is one of the Japanese companies that have expressed interest.

Taiwan's state-run energy company CPC had signed an agreement in March with Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to buy LNG and to invest in the project.

The project, estimated to cost 45 billion dollars in the early stages, involves construction of a one-thousand-300-kilometer pipeline from Alaska's far north to the Gulf of Alaska and exporting liquefied gas to countries in Asia.