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Equinor exits South Korean offshore wind market after 12 years, closing Seoul office

Equinor is pulling out of South Korea 12 years after entering the market, closing its Korean office within the year and letting go of all staff, ChosunBiz reported October 15, 2026. The Norwegian state-owned company pursued three floating offshore wind projects without securing profitability, returning the 750 MW Ulsan Firefly project license to the government earlier this year after failing to sign a renewable energy certificate sales contract.

By Greener Numbers Editorial Team · Published October 18, 2026 · Updated 10/18/2026

Norway's state-owned energy company Equinor has decided to pull out of the South Korean market 12 years after entering, ChosunBiz reported on October 15, 2026. Equinor Korea will close its office within the year and has already let go of all staff, with the company stating on its website that it will not seek future offshore wind business opportunities in Korea. Equinor established its Korean branch in 2014 and pursued three floating offshore wind projects, none of which reached commercialization. Its flagship 750 MW Firefly floating offshore wind farm off Ulsan won a government tender in 2024, but Equinor returned the power generation business license to the government earlier this year after failing to sign a renewable energy certificate (REC) sales contract and secure a long-term revenue structure. The project's projected cost was cited at 10 trillion won, and rising supply chain uncertainty made recouping investment at the fixed contract price difficult, according to the report. The 200 MW Ulsan Donghae-1 floating offshore wind project, a consortium effort with Korea National Oil Corporation and Korea East-West Power, is adrift following the exit. It has not begun environmental impact assessment, and Equinor decided to transfer all of its equity to the consortium. Equinor had earlier withdrawn from the 3 GW fixed-bottom and floating project off Chuja-do, where conditions requiring power to connect only to the Jeju grid and resident benefit-sharing contributions of more than 130 billion won per year became stumbling blocks. Equinor has positioned floating offshore wind as a growth pillar alongside oil and gas: it began operating the 30 MW Hywind Scotland, the world's first floating offshore wind farm, in 2017, and started up the 88 MW Hywind Tampen in the Norwegian North Sea in 2023. An industry official noted the company also decided to withdraw from its Tokyo office in June, describing a strategy of focusing on Europe, the core market for offshore wind. The exit underscores the difficulties facing South Korea's floating wind ambitions, where supply chain risks and weak revenue certainty have stalled projects despite government tenders.

Official source: biz.chosun.com ↗