Equinor's bruising losses on Orsted stake revealed

Equinor said its third quarter results will show a hit of about $400m to its interests in Orsted, the troubled offshore wind group in which it is the second-largest shareholder.

The Norwegian oil and gas giant spent around $2.5bn for a 10% stake in Orsted in October last year, identifying investment in the Danish group as an alternative way to capture the upsides of offshore wind rather than direct spending on projects.

Orsted’s shares have halved in the subsequent year under a series of blows to the developer’s prospects, mostly linked to its US projects and most recently in the face of moves by Donald Trump to stop offshore wind in its tracks.

Equinor gave the $400m figure in a note to financial analysts issued today ahead of publication of the Q3 results on 29 October . Orsted was not mentioned in Equinor’s second quarter results published in July, when the Norwegian group booked almost $1bn of impairments related to its own US offshore wind projects.

“The net impact on adjusted net income of the change in fair value of our shares in Orsted during the third quarter, and the fair value of subscription rights held at the end of the third quarter, represents a loss of around $0.4bn,” it said.

Equinor has come under scrutiny from its own shareholders over the Orsted investment and its involvement in renewable energy as a whole.

The oil group has already said it will seek a closer strategic relationship with Orsted, leading some commentators to suggest a combined renewables business between the two – or even Equinor replacing the Danish government as the main shareholder.