Oil giant Equinor 'to slash renewable energy workforce by 20%'

Oil and gas giant Equinor is reducing the number of staff working in its renewable energy division by about 20% as it focuses on a smaller number of core projects, it was reported today.

Equinor, like several other cash-rich European oil majors with long offshore operating expertise, piled into wind a few years ago, but then ran into industry-wide headwinds caused by supply chain constraints, inflation and high interest rates.

Equinor's early entry to the US offshore wind market, and BP's $1.1bn acquisition of 50% stakes in the Beacon Wind and Empire Wind projects in 2020, meant that the Norwegian company suffered less of a hit than some peers, but still declared $300m impairment on those projects in October 2023.

Equinor CEO Anders Opedal has since thrown more emphasis on value-accretion and returns on investment for new renewables projects and the company has pulled out of offshore wind activities in locations like Vietnam, Spain, Portugal and France, while recently scaling back offshore wind plans in Australia.

Despite the dialling down, Equinor remains more committed to renewable generation projects than some fossil peers, with major greenfield offshore wind projects under development including the 3.6GW SSE-led Dogger Bank arrays in the UK and the 3GW Bałtyk projects in Poland.

Equinor has also reaffirmed its commitment to the 810MW Empire Wind I offshore wind project in the US, after a long road that started with it taking an early position, followed by a partial sale to – and subsequent split with – BP.

Offshore wind accounts for most of the renewable energy unit's activities, although staffing reductions also covered onshore wind and solar.

The staff adjustments did not apply at subsidiaries such as Polish Wento or Danish BeGreen, the spokesperson specified.