Norway’s Equinor halts Vietnam offshore wind plans

“We have decided to discontinue our business development in Vietnam and to close our office in Hanoi,” Magnus Frantzen Eidsvold, an Equinor spokesperson, said in an interview.

It is the first time Equinor has closed an international office focused on offshore wind development.

The company has previously exited more than a dozen countries where it had oil and gas activities over the last few years to focus on renewables and low-carbon systems.

Vietnam has no current offshore wind projects but wants to install wind farms for 6 gigawatt (GW) by 2030, equal to 4% of its planned capacity, as part of plans to reduce coal and reach net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century.

Equinor had decided to quit Vietnam after a regular review of its portfolio of renewable assets, Eidsvold said.

“The offshore wind sector has been facing significant headwinds lately and we need to be disciplined in our approach,” he added.

Equinor opened a representative office in May 2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, describing the nation of 100 million as having a “high potential to become an interesting growth market for offshore wind,” according to Equinor’s website.

“The country has among the best wind resources in Asia,” the website said.