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Asks US to reverse decision to block Empire Wind

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Says US government's stop order unlawful

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Overall financial exposure so far is $4.5 bln

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Risks impairment of $2.5 bln book value

(Adds CEO comment, background in paragraphs 1, 3-6)

By Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis

OSLO, April 30 (Reuters) - Equinor ( EQNR ) stands to

lose billions of dollars on its massive wind power project

offshore the state of New York unless U.S. President Donald

Trump's administration reverses a decision to halt the

construction, the Norwegian group said on Wednesday.

In a blow to the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry,

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on April 16 the Biden

administration had failed to conduct enough environmental

analysis before approving the Empire Wind development.

Equinor ( EQNR ) on Wednesday said the project was about 30% complete

at the time it was halted and that it planned to meet with U.S.

government officials to seek a reversal of what the company

called an unlawful order while it considered its legal options.

The group's investment so far has a book value of $2.5

billion, with further exposure including guarantees and

termination fees of $1.5 billion-$2.0 billion before taking into

account tax and other potential limiting factors, it said.

Equinor ( EQNR ) CEO Anders Opedal said the company may book an

impairment loss in the second quarter as a result of the U.S.

government order.

"An impairment would of course only be on the book value,"

Opedal told Reuters.

Burgum's announcement this month sent shockwaves through the

industry, raising concerns that fully permitted developments are

not safe.

"We have invested in Empire Wind after obtaining all

necessary approvals, and the order to halt work now is

unprecedented and in our view unlawful," Opedal said.

"This is a question of the rights and obligations granted

under legally issued permits, and security of investments based

on valid approvals," he added.

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

federal lease for the project's site off the Atlantic coast

under Trump's previous administration in 2017.

However, on the first day of his second term, Trump ordered

a review of offshore wind permitting and leasing, though the

fully permitted projects had been seen by analysts as safe.

One of the world's top offshore wind developers, Germany's

RWE, last week said it had stopped work on its U.S.

projects for the time being in light of the Trump

administration's moves.

With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts,

Equinor's ( EQNR ) project could generate enough electricity to power

500,000 homes a year and was expected to begin operating in

2027.

Equinor ( EQNR ) on Wednesday reported a stronger-than-expected rise

in its first-quarter operating profit, boosted by a jump in

European gas prices.