BP entered the offshore wind market on Thursday with a $1.1 billion deal to buy 50% stakes in two U.S. developments from Norway’s Equinor, a significant step by the oil firm towards its energy transition goals.
The British oil and gas company has set itself a target of increasing its renewable power generation capacity 20 fold over the coming decade to 50 gigawatts (GW).
As part of the deal, BP and Equinor also agreed to form a partnership to develop other offshore wind projects in the United States, Dev Sanyal, BP’s head of gas and low carbon energy, told Reuters.
European oil firms are under pressure from activists, banks, investors and some governments to shift away from fossil fuels and analysts say offshore wind farms are probably the quickest way for them to scale up.
