Equinor is open to options for Orsted stake

The Norwegian board chair of Equinor said that the oil group believes in the core business of offshore wind farm developer Orsted, but it is not yet at the stage where they will merge their renewables companies. Equinor, the Norwegian oil group, holds 10% of Orsted. It has also said that it will participate in Orsted's emergency rights offering to fund U.S. wind farm projects which are now uncertain due to President Donald Trump's anti-wind farm stance.

On the sidelines an energy conference held in Oslo, Equinor Chairman Jon Erik Reinhardsen stated: "We're convinced that this is a value-driven case. That's what we are looking for."

When asked if Equinor could increase its stake in Orsted, he replied: "We are open-minded in terms of where it may lead."

Analysts have suggested that Equinor is open to spin-off its own renewables unit, and merging it with Orsted.

Reinhardsen stated that "it might be one of several options, but we aren't at that point yet, where we are sitting down and ranking options."

Orsted's share price rose 2.9% by 1208 GMT. (Reporting and writing by Anna Ringstrom, Stine Jacobsen and Terje Solsvik, editing by Terje Solsvik).

(source: Reuters)