The Trump administration has struck a deal to pay TotalEnergies approximately $1bn to walk away from two planned offshore wind projects on the US East Coast, redirecting the French major's investment into domestic oil and gas instead.
The settlement extinguishes lease obligations that Bloomberg valued at $1bn and effectively ends TotalEnergies' US offshore wind ambitions. It is the most costly single intervention yet in a broader campaign by the administration to wind down Biden-era renewable energy commitments.
The announcement comes as a fuel crisis tied to the war in Iran pushes global fossil fuel prices higher, giving the administration both a political rationale and market tailwind for accelerating hydrocarbon investment. Fox Business reported the deal as a direct swap: wind leases cancelled, oil investment redirected to the US.
US offshore wind has faced repeated project cancellations since Trump returned to office, with developers citing permitting freezes, federal hostility, and rising costs. TotalEnergies' exit removes one of the larger European players still active in the US market.
The financial terms raise immediate questions for the public purse. A near-$1bn federal payment to a private energy company to halt a legal project is without clear precedent, and the mechanism by which the administration funds or structures the compensation has not been disclosed in detail by the sources available.
