TotalEnergies drops US offshore wind for US$1bn gas deal

FRENCH energy giant TotalEnergies will no longer pursue offshore wind projects in the US after securing a US$1bn deal with the government to focus on gas development.

Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will “relinquish” its wind leases, including the Attentive Energy project in New York and its Carolina Long Bay project. Both were secured in 2022 but have been on pause since 2024 due to political uncertainty.

The Trump administration has been openly critical of offshore wind, labeling it costly and unreliable and even attempted to halt new projects early in his term.

Amid ongoing energy pressures fuelled by conflict in the Middle East, the government has been under mounting pressure to keep energy prices low. Brent crude currently exceeds US$100 per barrel.

Cutting costs

TotalEnergies initially paid around US$928m for the wind leases, which the US has committed to reimburse. The funds will be redirected to the development of the Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas and oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

TotalEnergies said it had conducted studies which showed that offshore wind was a costly and unaffordable pursuit in the US.

Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of the company, said: “These agreements, under which we will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant and the development of our oil and gas activities, allows us to support the development of US gas production and export.

“These investments will contribute to supplying Europe with much-needed LNG from the US and provide gas for US data centre development.”

Regulatory rollbacks

Since the recent energy crisis, the US government has moved to accelerate oil and gas projects. At the beginning of March, the Department of the Interior proposed easing regulations that tied oil and gas operators to financial compliance obligations, citing the rules as barriers to investment.

US interior secretary Doug Burgum said: “We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans' monthly bills while providing secure US baseload power today – and in the future.”