March 17 - U.S. officials are drafting agreements to pay

French oil major TotalEnergies about $1 billion in

settlements due to the cancellation of leases for its wind farms

in federal waters off New York State and North Carolina, the New

York Times reported on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the proposed settlements, the U.S.

Interior Department will cancel the leases in federal waters for

two projects, known as Attentive Energy and Carolina Long Bay,

the NYT said, citing documents.

The Justice Department will then pay more than $928 million

to TotalEnergies, compensating the firm for its winning bids in

lease sales under the previous Biden administration, according

to the NYT report.

The White House, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S.

Department of Interior and TotalEnergies did not immediately

respond to Reuters requests for comment. Reuters could not

immediately verify the report.

The French energy group had formed a joint venture in

October 2023 for the development of the Attentive Energy

offshore wind project off the coast of New York. In November

2024, it said it had paused the development of the wind farm

after Donald Trump's U.S. presidential election victory.

The company won a lease for the Carolina Long Bay project in

2022.

Following the settlement, TotalEnergies will abandon its

plans to begin building the wind farms. It would also commit to

investing in natural gas infrastructure in Texas, the report

said.

Offshore wind developers have faced repeated disruptions

under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he finds wind

turbines ugly, expensive and inefficient.