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The US Department of the Interior (DOI) and TotalEnergies have signed settlement agreements to terminate the company’s two offshore wind leases in the United States, confirming recent reports that a deal was being drafted under which TotalEnergies would be reimbursed USD 928 million (around EUR 806 million) paid in lease fees .
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Under the deal, TotalEnergies, along with its partners, will relinquish the offshore wind lease areas in Carolina Long Bay and New York Bight, and recover the lease fees from the US government. The company will then invest an equal amount in the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant and the development of its oil and gas activities in the US, according to TotalEnergies’ press release from 23 March.
According to a press release from the DOI, TotalEnergies has also “pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States”.
The company secured both lease areas in 2022, first the Attentive Energy lease area in New York Bight (OCS-A 0538) and then Carolina Long Bay (OCS-A 0545). The information from the time the lease sales closed stated that TotalEnergies (and partners) won the sites by bidding USD 795 million for the New York Bight area and USD 160 million for the Carolina Long Bay offshore wind lease area.
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According to the DOI’s press release, OCS-A 0538 in the New York Bight was fully executed by Attentive Energy (a joint venture between TotalEnergies and EnBW at the time) on 1 May 2022, after payment of USD 795 million, and the lease area in Carolina Long Bay (which the DOI states as being OCS-A 0535), was fully executed by TotalEnergies on 1 June 2022, after payment of a little over USD 133.3 million.