$56 Billion in US Energy Exports Got Signed in Tokyo Over Five Days. Congress Members Were Already Holding the Stock.

On March 14, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum opened the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo. Seventeen countries sent ministers. Hundreds of executives followed. Over five days between Tokyo and Washington, companies signed nuclear, LNG, critical mineral, and coal deals worth $56 billion. Most of the companies trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

This was not the $550 billion bilateral framework between Japan and the United States. The IPEM forum ran alongside it, with overlapping companies and officials but a different scope. The bilateral deal is between two governments. IPEM brought seventeen to the table. The same week, Prime Minister Takaichi flew to Washington and announced a second tranche of $73 billion in bilateral investments.

Between the two events, the week produced $129 billion in announced commitments. This article covers the IPEM side: the $56 billion, the new companies, and the members of Congress who already owned the stock when the forum opened.

The Deals That Closed in Tokyo

Not every signature at IPEM carried the same weight. Some deals closed financing. Others expressed intent. The distinction matters for anyone tracking these companies.

Binding commitments with money attached

Venture Global reached final investment decision on Phase 2 of its CP2 liquefied natural gas facility in Louisiana, closing $8.6 billion in financing and bringing total project funding to $20.7 billion. The same week, Venture Global signed a 20-year supply agreement with South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace for 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per year, valued at $10 billion. CP2 has contracted nearly all of its nameplate capacity to buyers in Europe and Asia.

X-energy closed a $700 million Series D financing round, bringing total private capital raised to $1.8 billion. New Korean strategic investors joined existing backers DL Engineering and Doosan Enerbility. This sits on top of $1.26 billion in Department of Energy funding awarded during President Trump's first term. X-energy also signed a $40 million binding contract with Japan's Toyo Tanso for nuclear-grade graphite components for its first four Xe-100 reactors deploying in Texas.

Tesla and LG Energy Solution signed a $4.3 billion supply agreement for LFP prismatic battery cells from LG's plant in Lansing, Michigan. Production starts in 2027. The cells will power Tesla's Megapack 3 energy storage systems produced in Houston.

CF Industries will invest 40 percent of a $3.7 billion blue ammonia production facility in Louisiana called Blue Point No. 1, with Japan's JERA taking 35 percent and Mitsui 25 percent. The facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2029 and will supply blue ammonia globally, including to Japan.

The Export-Import Bank issued a detailed term sheet for the $14 billion Delfin LNG Project, an offshore floating facility off Louisiana that would serve markets in Japan and South Korea. Partners include Delfin Midstream, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hanwha Asset Management. Delfin is not yet at final investment decision.

Framework agreements and MOUs

Holtec International, Mitsubishi Electric, and Hyundai Engineering and Construction signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver the first two SMR-300 units at Holtec's Palisades nuclear site in Michigan and to develop SMR-300 projects across the Indo-Pacific. This is a framework for collaboration, not a construction contract.

GE Vernova and Hitachi agreed to analyze market development opportunities for deploying the BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Southeast Asia. The language specifies "good-faith efforts" and "where commercially and technically appropriate" - standard MOU hedging.

X-energy and IHI Corporation signed an MOU to expand the supplier base for safety-critical components of the Xe-100. IHI holds specialized nuclear manufacturing capabilities largely unavailable at commercial scale in the United States. The MOU covers reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, and cross vessels.

The Export-Import Bank signed letters of interest worth nearly $5 billion with General Matter, a US enrichment company, to supply nuclear operators in Japan and South Korea with domestically produced enriched uranium. Letters of interest are not loan commitments.

Tamboran Resources is executing a $200 million acquisition of Falcon Oil and Gas in Australia's Beetaloo Basin, estimated to hold over 500 trillion cubic feet of gas. First sales are expected within six months.

Five New Companies on the NYSE

The IPEM forum introduced companies that were not part of the bilateral framework. Five trade on major US exchanges.

Venture Global went public in January 2026 and immediately became the forum's largest single commitment. Between the CP2 financing and the Hanwha supply agreement, the company (VG, NYSE) closed $30.7 billion in deals at IPEM. CP2 has contracted nearly all of its nameplate capacity to buyers in Europe and Asia.

The company with the deepest technical pipeline is X-energy (XE, NYSE). Its Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor has a commercial orderbook of 144 units across 11 gigawatts. At or around the forum, X-energy signed binding manufacturing and supply contracts with Doosan Enerbility, Toyo Tanso, and IHI Corporation, adding to $1.8 billion in total private capital raised.

Tesla (TSLA, NASDAQ) appeared through its $4.3 billion battery cell agreement with LG Energy Solution. The Megapack 3 energy storage system connects to the grid infrastructure that IPEM's nuclear and gas projects will require. Production begins in 2027 at LG's Lansing, Michigan plant.

A new category entered the deal universe through CF Industries (CF, NYSE), the largest US manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products. Its 40 percent stake in a $3.7 billion blue ammonia facility in Louisiana represents fuel technology exports to Japan, a sector that did not appear in the bilateral framework.

Tamboran Resources (TBN, NYSE) is an Australian gas company listed in New York. Its $200 million acquisition of Falcon Oil and Gas in Australia's Beetaloo Basin was announced at IPEM. The basin holds an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of gas. First sales are expected by late 2026.

How Japan Funds the $550 Billion

Japan's finance minister announced the creation of the Japan Strategic Investment Facility within the Japan Bank for International Cooperation in September 2025. JBIC is Tokyo's equivalent of Washington's International Development Finance Corporation. The facility is active from October 2025 through March 2029.

The facility covers nine sectors: semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, steel, shipbuilding, critical minerals, aviation, energy, automobiles, and AI/quantum technologies. The hard deadline is January 19, 2029 - the end of President Trump's current term.

Of the $550 billion, $109 billion has been announced across the bilateral first and second tranches. The IPEM forum's $56 billion runs on a parallel track but overlaps through shared companies and JBIC financing.

Two open questions remain. Whether previously announced investments count toward the $550 billion total is unclear. The September 2025 MOU says investments outside the strategic fund do not count, but SoftBank's $100 billion Stargate commitment and Nippon Steel's $26 billion US Steel acquisition both predate the framework and both involve Japanese capital flowing to the United States. Second, project recommendations must pass through seven Japanese government bodies before the Ministry of Finance gives final approval. The speed of that process will determine whether the 2029 deadline is realistic.

Who in Congress Held the Stock

New disclosure filings have arrived since our previous reporting.

Josh Gottheimer filed a GE Vernova purchase on March 16, his second in our dataset. The trade was made February 5. In the same filing, Gottheimer reported buying Exxon Mobil twice and Cummins, a power generation equipment company. He sits on the Financial Services Committee.

The first GEV seller appeared on March 12. Austin Scott's spouse sold 33 shares at $328 from an IRA, alongside a sale of GE Aerospace. Scott sits on Armed Services and Agriculture. Five members have purchased GEV in our data. One has now sold.

Julia Letlow's March 12 filing shows a Vistra purchase on February 17, alongside Cummins, Boeing, and Taiwan Semiconductor. Letlow sits on Education and Energy and Commerce. Vistra is the same power company whose options Nancy Pelosi exercised in a prior disclosure.

Cleo Fields purchased Microsoft on March 12. Microsoft's connection to the broader framework runs through its ownership stake in OpenAI, a Stargate technology partner.

What Is Real and What Is a Handshake

The deals announced at IPEM were individually reported by the Department of the Interior, the Export-Import Bank, and participating companies. Their sum exceeds the $56 billion headline, which reflects the DOI's own accounting of commitments catalyzed by the forum. Below is what was announced.

Roughly $42 billion of what was announced at IPEM is backed by signed contracts, closed financing, or executed agreements. The remaining $14 billion sits in EXIM term sheets and MOUs at various stages of negotiation. EXIM term sheets signal the bank's intent to finance and help projects attract private capital, but they are not disbursements.

The week of March 14-20 added a new dimension to the bilateral framework. It became the anchor for a multilateral energy network. Seventeen countries participated. Companies that were not in the original framework - Venture Global, X-energy, Tesla, CF Industries, Tamboran - are now part of the portfolio universe. The financing mechanism has a name, three funding sources, and a deadline.

The portfolio grew from 18 NYSE/NASDAQ stocks to 23. New congressional filings keep arriving. The next disclosure cycle will show whether more members moved into these positions around the IPEM dates, and whether Austin Scott's GEV sale was an outlier or the start of something different.

References

• U.S. Department of the Interior - IPEM $56 Billion Deals
• White House Fact Sheet - US-Japan Alliance (March 2026)
• Hudson Institute - Financing the $550 Billion Strategic Investment Fund
• USTDA - Indo-Pacific Energy Security Initiatives in Tokyo
• USTR - US-Japan Action Plan on Critical Minerals
• X-energy - IHI Corporation SMR Supply Chain MOU
• Venture Global - Q4 2025 Results and CP2 FID
• Congressional trade data sourced from House Clerk and Senate eFD filings, parsed and stored in the Politraders database.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. All congressional trade data is sourced from publicly available financial disclosure filings. Dollar amounts, deal structures, and company details are derived from official government documents. Timing correlations do not imply causation or foreknowledge. Always conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.