Equinor and BP forms US offshore wind partnership
Norway’s Equinor has established a strategic partnership with BP for the development of offshore wind in the US, selling a 50% interest in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind assets on the US east coast to BP for a total price of $1.1bn.
Equinor believes the transaction is in line with the company’s renewable strategy to access attractive acreage early and at scale, mature projects, and capture value by de-risking high equity ownership positions.
Equinor will remain the operator of the projects through the development, construction and operations phases.
“We look forward to working with BP who share our strong ambition to grow in renewable energy. Our partnership underlines both companies’ strong commitment to accelerate the energy transition and combining our strengths will enable us to grow a profitable offshore wind business together in the US,” said Eldar Saetre, chief executive officer of Equinor.
Equinor and BP will consider future joint opportunities in the US for both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind and will leverage relevant expertise to jointly grow scale.
The share transfer deal is expected to close in early 2021.