March 17 – U.S. officials are drafting agreements to pay nearly $1 billion to oil major TotalEnergies as compensation for the cancellation of leases for wind farms in federal waters off New York State and North Carolina, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the proposed settlements, the U.S. Interior Department will cancel the leases in federal waters for two projects, known as Attentive Energy and Carolina Long Bay, the NYT said, citing documents.
The Justice Department will then pay more than $928 million to TotalEnergies, compensating the firm for its winning bids in lease sales under the previous Biden administration, according to the NYT report.
The White House, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Interior did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. TotalEnergies declined to comment on the report.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
It is unclear whether TotalEnergies will accept the proposed settlements, the NYT said, adding that the Trump administration would cancel the leases even if the company rejects the settlements, according to the documents cited.
The French energy group formed a joint venture in October 2023 for the development of the Attentive Energy offshore wind project off the coast of New York. In November 2024, it said it had paused the development of the wind farm after Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory.
The company won a lease for the Carolina Long Bay project in 2022.
Following a settlement, TotalEnergies would abandon its plans to begin building the wind farms. It would also commit to investing in natural gas infrastructure in Texas, the report said.
Offshore wind developers have faced repeated disruptions under Trump, who has said he finds wind turbines ugly, expensive and inefficient.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Pooja Desai and Barbara Lewis)
