OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor ( EQNR )

said on Wednesday it booked a $955 million impairment on an

offshore wind project in the United States, despite the lifting

of an earlier ban on its construction by President Donald

Trump's administration.

In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the

administration of former President Joe Biden had failed to

conduct enough environmental analysis ahead of approving the

Empire Wind development in New York state.

He shut down the project, dealing a blow to the U.S.

offshore wind industry.

But a month later, Burgum lifted the stop-work order on the

project, in a compromise with the state that could also see

cancelled plans for a gas pipeline revived.

On Wednesday, Equinor's ( EQNR ) reported net operating income for

the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion

dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects.

"This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to

regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future

offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs,"

Equinor ( EQNR ) said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South

Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to

the Empire Wind 2 lease."

Equinor ( EQNR ), majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a

federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first

administration and secured approval for its investment plans

during Biden's time in the White House in 2023.

But on the first day of his second term in January this

year, Trump ordered a review of offshore wind permitting and

leasing, although many analysts had still believed

fully-permitted projects to ultimately be safe.

The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3

billion, it said on Wednesday.

With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, the

project could generate enough electricity to power half a

million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in

2027.

Equinor ( EQNR ) on Wednesday reported declining core second-quarter

results, as expected, due to lower oil prices.