US Offshore Wind Project Locked in Fresh Dispute with Singapore

This has been obliquely disputed by Seatrium, which in its own market statement gave no elaboration nor acknowledgement of the allegations but stated it was “evaluating its options” which include both potential legal action for what it believes to be a wrongful termination as well as “exploring viable options including talks with the end customer.”

The Empire Wind offshore wind farm, off the coasts of both New York and New Jersey 25 to 50 km south of Long Island, is no stranger to problems, including the outright antagonism to renewable energy on the part of the Trump administration in Washington. Launched in 2017 as a joint venture between Norwegian energy major Equinor and British Petroleum (BP), the project was meant to showcase transatlantic cooperation in the energy transition. But its timeline has repeatedly slipped due to permitting delays, grid interconnection challenges, and a shifting political climate in Washington, DC ever since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2024.

Following a 2024 decision by Equinor and BP to independently pursue US wind projects, EOW is currently now entirely under Equinor’s management. The first phase, Empire Wind 1, with a planned capacity of 810–816 MW and consisting of 60 to 80 turbines, was originally expected to begin operation by the mid-2020s but its completion has been pushed back to the end of 2026 over permitting and grid interconnection delays. Equinor’s decision to effectively cancel its involvement in the second phase, Empire Wind 2, in January 2024 had also affected Seatrium with the associated offshore substation contract worth US$250 million, also canceled without starting construction.

Trump originally sought to scupper the Empire Wind Project in April, with a temporary stop-work order issued against EOW by the US government over alleged “serious issues with project approval process.” That would be lifted a month later in a move widely seen as tit-for-tat horse-trading with New York State potentially reviving plans for a natural gas pipeline to be built linking the state to Pennsylvania. However, President Trump’s open hostility to offshore wind has already chilled investor confidence, with Equinor reporting in July this year a US$995 million impairment on the Empire Wind 1 project.

What further provides intrigue about the sudden contract termination are public remarks made by Maersk Offshore Wind chief executive Michael Reimer Mortensen in an interview in April this year. Mortensen emphatically committed the company’s long-term presence in the US renewable energy market with the statement, “In the long term, we have an ambition to grow and become more. And the only way that can happen is either by buying or building.”

With the cancellation of the Seatrium WTIV contract by EOW, the completion of Empire Wind 1 is once again thrown into limbo with only 30 percent of the associated infrastructure completed and with the vessel a key component for the installation of the offshore wind turbines. Given how scarce, expensive, and critical WITVs are to offshore wind project construction timelines, the abruptness of this contract cancellation with work almost complete before sudden allegations of “construction issues” and seemingly contradictory claims of “delivery delays” for a vessel almost fully complete within the long-known time schedule has only served to raise more questions than answers.

The dispute underscores the fragility of the US offshore wind sector as it intersects with global supply chains, politics, and climate goals. Offshore wind projects depend on complex cross-border partnerships between private developers, financiers, shipyards, and governments. When any one link breaks, the ripple effects are felt far beyond the shipyard gate.

Seatrium is one of Singapore’s flagship industrial champions on the global stage, formed through the merger of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine in April 2023. With the rise in environmentalism globally fueling a shift away from fossil fuels, Seatrium’s shipyards have been expanding beyond oil and gas rigs into renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, as part of Singapore’s push to remain competitive in the global maritime sector.

Singapore’s government might thus find itself compelled to intervene on behalf of its national industrial champion through engagement with EOW stakeholders Equinor and Maersk Offshore Wind, as well as with the US government, to contain the ongoing financial and political fallout. EOW has already seen one such intervention when the Norwegian government stepped in to advocate for Equinor’s corner and convince the US government to lift its stop-work order on the project in mid-2025.

Initial ground chatter within US political and industry circles indicates there was no strongarming by the US government or members of the Trump administration which triggered this latest contract dispute. Nonetheless, it might ultimately prove to be something requiring higher-level government mediation from Singapore’s end to head off a potentially long and ruinous legal arbitration process.