BP, Equinor Form Partnership to Develop Offshore Wind Energy in U.S.

BP and Equinor, formerly, Statoil announced the formation of a new strategic partnership to develop offshore wind projects in the U.S. This includes the development of existing offshore wind leases on the U.S. East Coast and jointly pursuing further opportunities for offshore wind in the U.S. As well as forming the new strategic partnership, bp will purchase a 50 percent interest in both the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind assets from Equinor. BP has agreed to pay Equinor $1.1 billion.

The agreement comes a month after BP announced its new strategy, including aims to increase its annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around $5B a year and grow its developed renewable generating capacity from 2.5 gigawatts in 2019 to around 50GW by 2030. Bernard Looney, bp’s CEO said: “This is an important early step in the delivery of our new strategy and our pivot to truly becoming an integrated energy company. Offshore wind is growing at around 20 percent a year globally and is recognized as being a core part of meeting the world’s need to limit emissions. Equinor is a recognized sector leader and this partnership builds on a long history between our two companies. It will play a vital role in allowing us to deliver our aim of rapidly scaling up our renewable energy capacity, and in doing so help deliver the energy the world wants and needs.”