Equinor buys almost 10% stake in Ørsted

The move signals a growing enthusiasm by traditional oil firm Equinor for offshore renewable assets, with Ørsted the largest developer in the wind industry in the world.

Equinor becomes the second largest shareholder with 9.8% in Ørsted after the Danish government.

Equinor’s oil and gas production amounted to 2,082 million barrels a day in 2023, according to the company’s website, which means a daily power generation capacity of 4,235GWh and an annual capacity of 1.5 TWh.

The company is now aiming to fire up its offshore wind assets to increase its share in renewables generation.

“Ørsted has a net renewable generation capacity of around 10.4GW and a gross portfolio of offshore wind projects in execution of around 7GW,” says Equinor. “The company’s ambition is to achieve a gross installed renewable capacity of around 35 to 38GW by 2030.”

The target includes onshore wind and solar generation, it says.

“Equinor has a long-term perspective and will be a supportive owner in Ørsted,” said Anders Opedal, CEO of Equinor. “This is a counter-cyclical investment in a leading developer, and a premium portfolio of operating offshore wind assets. The exposure to producing assets complements Equinor’s operated offshore wind portfolio of large projects under development.”

On the same day as the announcement, Equinor also posted an update of its latest oil projects, which included six being completed in the past year.

“Equinor has a good portfolio of profitable projects being developed in Norway, which will contribute to long-term security of supply of oil and gas to Europe,” head of Project Development Trond Bokn said. “In 2023, our developments contributed to high activity and 25 billion kroner (2.1 billion).”