Trump Administration Pays TotalEnergies $1 Billion to Cancel US Offshore Wind Projects

The Trump administration signed a deal on Monday worth nearly $1 billion with French energy giant TotalEnergies to cancel the company's two offshore wind leases off the United States East Coast and redirect that capital into domestic fossil fuel production. TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné and US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the agreement at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas. The Department of the Interior will reimburse the company the full $928 million it paid in lease deposits under the Biden administration in exchange for TotalEnergies surrendering the two sites and pledging not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States. The company has committed to investing the equivalent amount this year in fossil fuel projects, primarily the Rio Grande LNG plant in Brownsville, Texas, as well as upstream conventional oil production in the Gulf of America and shale gas development.

928 (million USD) — TotalEnergies lease reimbursement for two wind sites

Four gigawatts of clean capacity removed from the pipeline The two canceled projects would have had a combined capacity of approximately four gigawatts. The larger of the two, known as Attentive Energy, was a site east of New Jersey in the New York Bight with a planned capacity of 3 GW, developed as a joint venture with Corio Generation and Rise Light and Power after TotalEnergies won the leases in 2022. The second project, off the coast of North Carolina, had a planned capacity of 1 GW. TotalEnergies had already placed both projects on hold at the end of 2024, after Donald Trump won the presidential election, citing the unlikelihood of obtaining federal approvals from the incoming administration. Pouyanné described the agreement as a pragmatic choice, contrasting his approach with that of other European energy companies such as Orsted and Equinor, which have pursued litigation against the administration rather than negotiating. „Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country's interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the US, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees. We believe that this is a much more efficient use of capital in the US.” — Patrick Pouyanné via France 24 Pouyanné also said TotalEnergies had signed a letter of intent with Glenfarne, the lead developer of the Alaska LNG project, for the long-term off-take of 2 million tons per year of LNG over 20 years.

Attentive Energy (New York Bight): 3, North Carolina site: 1

Burgum calls wind "expensive and unreliable" as oil tops $110 The deal was announced against the backdrop of surging global energy prices driven by the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, which began on February 28, 2026. According to web search results citing Reuters, global benchmark oil prices have risen more than 50 percent to over $110 a barrel since the war started, placing pressure on the Trump administration to increase domestic energy supply. Burgum framed the agreement in explicitly political terms at the Houston press conference. „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.” — Doug Burgum via France 24 „This administration believes in energy realities, not climate fantasies.” — Doug Burgum via France 24 Critics pushed back sharply on the timing. Sam Salustro, a senior vice-president of pro-offshore wind group Oceantic Network, said in a statement that the deal amounted to "political theater meant to obscure the fact that offshore wind capacity is being pulled out of the pipeline when energy prices are skyrocketing, even as other offshore wind projects continue delivering reliable and affordable power to the grid."

Courts blocked earlier wind bans; one project now delivers power The TotalEnergies agreement represents a strategic shift for the administration after its earlier attempts to block offshore wind construction through executive action failed in federal courts. In December 2024, the administration canceled the leases of all major offshore wind projects then under construction, citing national security concerns related to potential radar interference. Courts subsequently allowed each of those projects to proceed after states and developers filed lawsuits. One of those projects, Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island, recently began delivering power to the New England grid. Another, Vineyard Wind off Massachusetts, completed construction this month, according to The Guardian. Work on four additional projects — Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind off New York, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and Vineyard Wind — is continuing. The United States accelerated offshore wind development under former President Joe Biden as part of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions. TotalEnergies obtained its two offshore wind concessions in 2022, paying $928 million in royalties, during that period of federal support for renewable energy. Trump has long expressed personal opposition to wind turbines, calling them "unsightly," and his administration has consistently sought to curtail the sector since taking office in January 2025. The Rio Grande LNG plant, which TotalEnergies will now help finance, has a planned capacity of 29 million tons, and Pouyanné said the gas it produces could help supply both European markets and US data centers.

TotalEnergies US energy strategy shift: Wind lease investment (before: $928M in two offshore wind leases (New York, North Carolina), after: Leases surrendered; $928M redirected to fossil fuels); Primary US project (before: Attentive Energy — 3 GW offshore wind, New York Bight, after: Rio Grande LNG plant, Brownsville, Texas (29M ton capacity)); Regulatory approach (before: Projects on hold pending federal approvals, after: Formal pledge not to develop any new US offshore wind)