
Blaming Trump, Equinor books a $955 million US offshore wind writedown
Hopes the industry had harboured that projects in the United States would revive the sector were dashed on Trump's first day back in office in January when he suspended offshore wind leases.
Then in April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shut down Equinor's Empire Wind development in New York state. He later lifted the stop-work order on the project.
For Equinor, however, the damage has been done.
On Wednesday, it reported its net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects.
Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan said a combination of tariffs, the U.S. administration changing its mind on developing offshore wind, and the removal of tax credits had affected the value of the group's large onshore terminal in South Brooklyn, built to serve offshore wind farm installations.
"(The impairment) is driven by regulatory changes in the U.S., particularly related to that investment tax credits have been taken away for new developments. You also have tariffs, and there's also a presidential order stopping permitting of new offshore wind projects," Reitan told Reuters.
"It is those new offshore wind projects that drive the impairment, because we have a terminal, the South Brooklyn Marine terminal, where we had assumed two more developments than our own Empire Wind to pay for that. That is now unlikely."
Out of the $955 million impairment, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1 and its South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project, with the remainder related to the lease of the Empire Wind 2 farm, the company said.
Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans in 2023 during former President Joe Biden's time in the White House.
Tariffs, including on steel, had increased costs on the project by $300 million, Reitan said. Equinor would still receive tax credits for the first phase of Empire Wind, but not for the second one.
"Without investment tax credits and without a government that wants it to happen, we are not going to invest in it," said Reitan.
The global offshore wind market, once touted by governments as a cornerstone of efforts to cut carbon emissions, has faltered under escalating costs and logistical setbacks.
The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, Equinor said on Wednesday.
With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, Empire Wind 1 could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027.
Equinor on Wednesday also reported a decline in core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
26 minutes ago
- Reuters
Southwest Airlines misses Q2 profit estimates as US travel demand wavers
July 23 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), opens new tab posted second-quarter profits that missed Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, hurt by weak travel demand in the domestic market. Lingering uncertainty about the broader economy and rising living costs in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's trade war have taken a toll on carriers that primarily service the U.S. domestic market and price-sensitive customers. To stimulate demand, they have been leaning on fare discounts. Southwest's shares were down 2% after the bell. The company said it expects $600 million-$800 million in earnings before interest and taxes this year, less than half its previous forecast of $1.7 billion. Still, Southwest said domestic leisure travel demand has stabilized and is showing signs of improvement. Southwest said its unit revenue, or revenue generated from each seat, in the current quarter is expected to be in the range of down 2% to up 2% from a year ago. In April, several major U.S. carriers scrapped their financial forecasts, citing uncertainty linked to President Donald Trump's broad tariff measures and government spending cuts, which pressured consumers to scale back travel plans. Since then, airline executives and analysts have signaled that demand trends and the broader travel environment are showing signs of steadiness. Even so, the domestic market remains under pressure, with cost-conscious travelers remaining cautious as household budgets tighten. Summer, typically the peak money-making season for airlines, is falling short this year as sluggish demand for standard economy seats forces carriers to cut fares, undermining their pricing power. Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab and United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab have seen strong revenue gains from premium cabins, buoyed by affluent travelers willing to pay for upgrades. By contrast, low-fare carriers such as Southwest are under pressure to maintain profitability as price-sensitive travelers remain cautious with discretionary spending. Southwest reported an adjusted profit per share of 43 cents, compared with analysts' average expectations of 51 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. It reported operating revenue of $7.24 billion in the quarter through June, compared with $7.35 billion a year earlier.


The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
FEMA chief rejects criticism, calls Texas floods response 'a model' for dealing with disaster
The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing back on criticisms of the federal response to the central Texas floods that killed at least 136 people earlier this month. 'I can't see anything we did wrong,' David Richardson told a House panel of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday. He called the relationship between state and federal agencies 'a model for how disasters should be handled.' Lawmakers used the hearing about improvements to FEMA disaster response to address reports that FEMA support was impaired by bureaucratic delays that slowed the deployment of urban search and rescue teams and left the agency's call centers unstaffed, which Richardson denied. The response "brought the maximum amount of capability to bear in Texas at the right time and the right place,' he said. Richardson's appearance came after a wave of criticism and fallout over the response, including the resignation Monday of FEMA's urban search and rescue leader. President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have touted the robust federal support for Texas despite their past support for eliminating FEMA. Reports of delays on the ground denied The acting administrator denied reports that FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams were delayed over 72 hours because of a new rule imposed by Noem that she must personally approve any contract of $100,000 or more. Richardson said a Texas-based FEMA task force was on the ground on July 4, along with other Homeland Security assets like the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, and that additional support came within '24 hours' of being requested. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., pushed back on FEMA's readiness, asking why more of the 28 FEMA urban search-and-rescue teams located around the country were not on standby ahead of receiving a request from the state of Texas. 'It haunts me that we could have had more urban search and rescue pre-positioned in place,' said Stanton. 'That was a choice.' The leader of FEMA's urban search-and-rescue effort, Ken Pagurek, expressed frustration with the delays to colleagues before resigning Monday, according to CNN. In response to Pagurek's resignation, a DHS spokesperson told The Associated Press, 'It is laughable that a career public employee, who claims to serve the American people, would choose to resign over our refusal to hastily approve a six-figure deployment contract without basic financial oversight." The Texas Division of Emergency Management did not respond to a request for comment on whether search-and-rescue efforts were impacted by delayed deployment of the FEMA teams. Richardson also denied a report from The New York Times that 84% of calls to FEMA went unanswered on July 7, three days after the July 4 floods, because Noem let lapse contract renewals with outside call centers. The contracts were renewed July 10, according to The Times. 'The vast majority of phone calls were answered. There was never a lapse in the contract,' said Richardson, echoing Noem's statements that the report was 'fake news.' Richardson defended his absence from the ground efforts in Texas, saying he worked from Washington, D.C., 'to kick down the doors of bureaucracy' and denying suggestions that Trump or Noem told him to stand down. He did not visit Texas until July 12. FEMA's fate is still in question Since the Texas floods, Trump has deflected questions about FEMA's fate. In June, he said he wanted to begin 'phasing out' FEMA after the hurricane season 'to wean off of FEMA and bring it to the state level.' Trump has been criticized for delaying decisions on disaster declaration requests, causing some states to wait as long as two months for approval to receive assistance to repair public infrastructure or help survivors. Lawmakers pressed Richardson on more general issues of FEMA reform as well, including concerns over long overdue preparedness grant funding, flood insurance and rules about how much financial assistance survivors can receive. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers asked about the fate of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which Trump canceled earlier this year. The grants supplied hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster mitigation funding. Twenty states are now suing the administration over the loss of funds. On Tuesday, Trump approved disaster declaration requests for Michigan, Oregon, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia, Missouri and New Mexico and expanded assistance in Kentucky. Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., asked Richardson why it took a month for his state to get a disaster declaration. 'My constituents were frustrated by how long it takes to get temporary housing and debris removal assistance," Onder said. Richardson referred back to Texas' declaration request: 'We turned that around within just a couple hours.' A Trump-appointed FEMA review council is in the process of crafting recommendations to the president on changes to the agency. Noem, who co-chairs the council, told its members five days after the Texas floods that FEMA 'needs to be eliminated as it exists today and remade as a responsive agency.' Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said he and Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., would introduce the bipartisan Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act this week, which would make FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency, incentivize states to prioritize resilience and improve aid for survivors. 'We don't need to wait for a FEMA review council," said Larsen. 'We've been reviewing FEMA for a long time.'


The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why US President is beginning to lose male support
Donald Trump 's approval rating among men is declining, with a recent CBS /YouGov poll indicating 47 per cent approval compared to 54 per cent last October. This drop reflects a broader disapproval of Trump's second term, with his overall approval rating down by approximately 12 points since January. Key issues driving this decline include men's concerns about Trump's focus on deportations, his perceived inability to curb inflation, and his economic policies, particularly tariffs. A significant majority of men believe Trump has not done enough to lower prices and that his policies are increasing grocery costs. Trump is also facing criticism from his voter base and within the Republican party regarding his administration's handling of the alleged 'Epstein client list'.