The Trump administration is pursuing a new route to unwind offshore wind positions in the United States, moving from project stop-work efforts to lease buyout discussions linked to oil and gas reinvestment.
The approach follows the recent arrangement involving TotalEnergies, under which the company was set to receive close to $1 billion in reimbursements and channel that amount into US oil and gas projects.
That model may not be workable for every leaseholder. Some companies active in US offshore wind are focused on renewables and do not have fossil fuel investment plans that would fit such a structure.
The report said the Department of the Interior held talks on Monday with several offshore wind leaseholders as it sought support for agreements similar to the one reached with TotalEnergies.
Earlier attempts to slow offshore wind through federal stop-work orders did not hold. In 2025, the government ordered projects to halt ongoing activity pending an Interior review, but courts overturned those measures. In December 2025, the administration then recast offshore wind as a national security matter and targeted five late-stage projects, yet those orders were also lifted.
The latest focus is on buying out leases in exchange for new fossil fuel investment. There are currently 43 active offshore wind leases off the US coast.
Among the larger holdings cited in the report, EDP and Engie share a $120 million lease. Invenergy holds four leases on the east and west coasts, including a site near New York acquired with energyRe for $645 million. RWE paid $1.1 billion for a New York lease and $157.7 million for a California lease.
Any arrangement based on the TotalEnergies model would depend on a company being able to commit to oil and gas investment in the United States. That may suit companies such as Invenergy and RWE, but it does not align as easily with groups such as Engie and EDP, which are centered on renewables.
The report also noted that some projects may be beyond a simple lease buyout stage. Equinor’s Empire Wind is about 60% complete. Equinor chief executive Anders Opedal said the situation differs from the TotalEnergies case because that transaction involved a lease, not a project already well into construction.
