BP and Equinor Forge Strategic Wind Power Partnership

British BP and Norwegian Equinor have entered into a strategic partnership, under which BP will buy the rights to lease offshore wind power assets in the U.S. from the Norwegian company for $1.1 billion, the press service of Equinor reports.

Under the terms of the deal, Equinor will sell BP a 50% stake in the leased Empire Wind and Beacon Wind wind power assets off the US East Coast. The Norwegian company leased them in 2019 and 2017 respectively. However, Equinor will remain the operator of these projects.

The wind farms have a potential total installed capacity of over 2 GW each. The transaction is slated to complete in early 2021, while meeting the necessary conditions including price adjustments and government approval. The wind farms are expected to be equally staffed after a certain period of time.

BP’s strategic partnership with Equinor also includes further development in the US wind power engineering sector, as the companies will consider joint opportunities for the commissioning of both onshore and offshore wind turbines.