Oil major BP has formed a strategic partnership with Japanese trading conglomerate Marubeni for offshore wind development off Japan.
The partners will also explore the possibility for other decarbonisation projects, including hydrogen.
BP plans to join Marubeni in developing an offshore wind farm in Japanese waters, and intends to buy a 49% stake in the project. The agreement is subject to merger control approvals, the companies stated.
BP also plans to set up a local offshore wind development team in Tokyo.
The partners have not stated how much offshore wind capacity they are planning to develop, or in which areas they are looking to build.
The move marks BP’s entry into the Japanese and Asian offshore wind markets. The company has a net offshore wind development portfolio of more than 5GW, with projects in the UK and the US. It aims to develop 20GW (net) of renewable assets by 2025 and 50GW by 2030.
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, said the deal would help to “unlock new regions and new opportunities for BP”.
She added: “Combining our international energy expertise and technical capabilities with Marubeni’s track record of wind and energy development and first-class regional relationships, we can together build important new clean energy resources for Japan and Asia.”
BP has been operating in Japan since 1960 and has a sizable oil and liquefied natural gas trading and lubricants business there. It is also working with Japanese shipping company NYK Line on decarbonising the shipping sector.
Meanwhile, Marubeni has helped to develop more than 2GW of operational onshore and offshore wind capacity globally.
Japan aims to be carbon neutral by 2050 and aims to deploy 10GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 30-45GW by 2040.
BP and Marubeni’s agreement is subject to merger control approvals and they expect the deal to be completed after this is granted.
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