Equinor ASA acquired no new alerts that the Trump administration would rethink the halt imposed on the Empire Wind venture when its CEO met with a high White Home official final week. Now the corporate should determine whether or not it’ll kill the venture.
“If no progress is made inside days, Equinor will likely be compelled to terminate the venture,” Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, stated Monday. “We’re nonetheless preventing daily to discover a decision.”
That got here after there was no indication of a change in stance from US officers when the Norwegian oil and fuel firm’s Chief Govt Officer Anders Opedal and different high officers met with US Nationwide Financial Council Director Kevin Hassett on Could 6, spokesperson Magnus Eidsvold stated Monday.
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A termination would trigger the corporate to lose a lot of its $2.7 billion funding on the venture. “It might be a direct impression to Equinor and our stability sheet,” Morris stated.
The $5 billion venture was halted in April when Inside Secretary Doug Burgum stated the Biden administration had rushed its approvals. Empire 1 was fully-permitted and slated to begin business operation in 2027. Its 54 generators had been designed to energy 500,000 houses.
‘Honoring Contracts’
Now, the paused venture is costing the corporate $50 million every week, Morris stated. Whereas work at sea is totally stopped, operations on the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in New York proceed, and there are prices related to holding folks and tools on standby.
The halt on Empire is larger than Equinor and even offshore wind, Morris stated. “It’s about honoring contracts and monetary investments made within the US,” she stated. “They’re setting a harmful precedent by stopping a venture in mid-execution.”
Morris stated Equinor has operated within the US for nearly 40 years and has invested greater than $60 billion within the nation. The corporate can also be a significant fossil-fuel agency with greater than 100 oil and fuel leases within the Gulf of Mexico.
President Donald Trump, a longtime critic of wind generators, raised the specter of blocking even absolutely permitted offshore wind tasks on his first day in workplace, when he directed the Inside Division to assessment the sector.
The stoppage is the newest — and maybe greatest — blow to an business appeared on the verge of main progress simply 4 years in the past.
The corporate has referred to as the halt “illegal” and stated it’s mulling authorized choices, together with whether or not to enchantment the choice.
If the venture is terminated, “we count on the $4 billion to $4.5 billion sunk value, invested so far plus future commitments, to be price zero,” Sparebank 1 Markets analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen stated in a observe to traders Monday.
The corporate secured billions in financing on the finish of December, saying on the time that whole capital investments would add as much as about $5 billion, together with the impact of future tax credit.
It owns 100% of the park, having swapped holdings with BP Plc in 2024. The Norwegian firm has stated it needed to promote down its share within the park over time.
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