The United States and TotalEnergies signed an agreement on Monday to end the French company's offshore US wind farm projects and redirect those funds towards fossil fuel production, with the US interior secretary saying the deal was worth nearly $1 billion.
Issued on: 23/03/2026
By: FRANCE 24
US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made the announcement at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston, an event where he appeared alongside TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne to sign the agreement.
"We're partnering with TotalEnergies to unleash nearly $1 billion that was tied up in a lease deposit that was directed towards the prior administration's subsidies that were pushing expensive weather-dependent offshore wind," said Burgum.
Pouyanne welcomed the deal, saying it redirected TotalEnergies's $928 million investment in two wind farm leases off the North Carolina and New York coasts into US natural gas projects, in particular the Rio Grande LNG plant.
French giant TotalEnergies had four gigawatts (GW) of offshore projects under development, including 3 GW for the New York Bight project and 1 GW in North Carolina.
But at the end of 2024, Pouyanne announced that they were "put on hold" due to the unlikelihood of obtaining federal licenses from the Trump administration.
Under former president Joe Biden, the United States had accelerated progress on wind farm construction as part of its fight against climate change.
US President Donald Trump, however, has reversed course on many of Biden's climate policies, taking particular aim at wind power.
Trump has long complained about the aesthetics of wind farms, calling them "unsightly".
The Trump administration put five wind power projects on hold in December, citing "national security" risks.
That order was then nullified by rulings at several US federal courts, allowing work to resume.
In Houston on Monday, TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanne said offshore wind was "not the most affordable way to produce electricity" in the United States which he said was natural gas-fired power plants.
"We could recycle all this money we are dedicating into, I would say US energy policy, and for us, in I would say, smarter investment. So it was a win-win dialog," he said.
According to a TotalEnergies statement, the company has also signed a letter of intent with Glenfarne, the lead developer of the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, for the long-term off-take of 2 million tons per year of LNG over 20 years.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
US to Repay TotalEneriges $1B for Wind Leases Redirected to LNG Investments
TotalEnergies confirmed it has entered into settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of the Interior, which will see the company redirect nearly $1 billion invested in leases for two offshore wind leases into investments in the LNG sector. The deal had first been reported last week as a new means by the Trump administration to stop future offshore wind development.
Under the terms of the agreement, the company will recover the lease fees paid to the United States in 2022 and agrees to reinvest an equal amount in the development of gas and power production and exports. In addition, the Department of the Interior says TotalEnergies has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States.
The company had purchased one of the properties in the 2022 New York Bight lease auction, paying $795 million and later selling a 44 percent stake to Macquarie Group’s Corio Generation Rise Light & Power for $420 million. It had proposed two projects, one for New York and the other for New Jersey, and had been selected by New York, but had not completed power agreements. Separately, it paid $133 million for a lease off North Carolina.
TotalEnergies said it had studied these leases and had found that “offshore wind developments in the United States, unlike those in Europe, are costly.” Chairman of the Board and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said, however, the U.S. deal would not impact the company’s continued European offshore wind energy development.
The agreement calls for the company to invest in the development of Train 1 to 4 for the Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas, which is already underway. Located near Brownsville, Texas, the project has been under construction since 2023 for its first three trains, and last fall approved the investment for its fifth train. TotalEnergies is one of four equity investors in the project.
The remainder of the investment will be transferred to upstream conventional oil and shale gas projects. It also announced that it signed a Letter of Intent with Glenfarne, which is developing the Alaska LNG project. TotalEnergies entered into long-term offtake agreements for 2 million tons per year of LNG over 20 years, subject to the project’s final investment decision.
TotalEnergies called the agreement a “more efficient use of capital.” After Donald Trump’s election, the company had said in November 2024 that it was shelving the U.S. offshore wind energy project. It said it could reconsider them in the future.
TotalEnergies had faced the prospect of the leases sitting idle until at least 2029 and a new administration in Washington, D.C. While a court overturned an Executive Order signed by Trump in January 2025 to stop wind leasing, the administration continues to oppose the industry. TotalEnergies’ projects had not yet obtained their federal government approvals.
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