Equinor CEO Anders Opedal got an unusual question at this week’s earnings call — and gave an unusual answer.
Toward the end of Equinor’s quarterly update Wednesday, an analyst asked executives at the Norwegian oil giant to reflect on the lessons they had learned from trying to build an offshore wind project near New York.
The project, known as Empire Wind, has been stopped twice by the Trump administration before being allowed to resume construction. Opedal’s answer gave a glimpse into how President Donald Trump’s attacks on wind are changing the way energy executives perceive political risk.
“This is a trend we see now in several countries that energy investments are more and more politicalized and polarized,” Opedal said, citing political debates over energy projects in the U.S., U.K. and Norway. “Definitely for us, this brings some reflections about what is the above-ground risk you can take.”
