Equinor's strategy

Illustration of main elements of the corporate strategy presented on this page

Equinor’s purpose is to turn natural resources into energy for people and progress for society. The energy industry sits on the expertise and resources to help change energy systems over the next three decades. But expertise and resources are not enough. Leadership is needed.

Equinor’s strategy is now to accelerate its transition. By 2030 Equinor will be a leading provider of energy and low carbon solutions. It will continue as Norway’s energy champion and will emerge as a leading energy player in selected international markets. It will be a global leader in offshore wind and the European leader in carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Equinor’s strategic pillars will remain Always safe – high value – low carbon.

Our ambition

A leading company in the energy transition

Transforming Equinor to be a leader in the energy transition.

Why we are changing

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. The world’s energy systems are in rapid transition to meet the challenge. The journey towards net zero creates new industry opportunities, and Equinor is ready to seize these opportunities.

Our strategic pillars stand firm

Always safe, High value, Low carbon will continue to guide our business.

Always safe

Safety is Equinor’s top priority.

We work hard to reduce risk and avoid incidents and injuries, both among our own employees and those of our suppliers. Everyone working for Equinor should return safely from work.

We will step up our safety performance through a One Equinor culture, more proactive safety leadership and forceful implementation of the “I am Safety” Roadmap.

High value

Equinor will drive competitive performance and efficiency improvements will remain a priority. Our growing oil and gas cashflow will enable our transformation and ensure value for our shareholders and society.

We expect our NCS assets to generate substantial cashflow during the coming decade. The portfolio is resilient to low prices, has fast return on investments and world-class break-evens.

We are growing cashflow from our international portfolio, making it more robust towards lower prices. Projects in Brazil and Gulf of Mexico, coming onstream from mid-2020s, will contribute significantly.

Through our leading positions in the offshore wind market and European low carbon solutions, we will build a pipeline of future projects.

We will utilise our trading and midstream capabilities to optimise the portfolio of commodities that we provide to our customers, together with new products and services from low carbon solutions.

Low carbon

Equinor’s long-term ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050.
We have set interim ambitions for our portfolio, to establish a pathway to net zero..

We aim to reduce net carbon intensity by 20% by 2030 and 40% by 2035. We will reduce our net carbon intensity towards 2035 by:

Reducing emissions from our oil and gas operations
Increasing our renewables capacity
Establishing value chains in CCS and hydrogen
Increasing the share of non-combusted products from hydrocarbons
Using high-quality carbon sinks

In the longer term, a decline in oil and gas production will also drive reductions in net carbon intensity towards net zero in 2050.

What we will do to get there

By 2030, Equinor will be a leading provider of energy and low carbon solutions. We will continue as Norway’s energy major and emerge as a leading energy player in selected international markets. We will be a global leader in offshore wind and a European leader in carbon capture and storage.

On this journey, we have three main priorities:

Optimised oil and gas portfolio

We expect our oil and gas portfolio to deliver positive cashflow at oil prices above USD 30 per barrel up to 2026. Reducing emissions from operations will remain a top priority.

Equinor will pursue activities where we have the competence, experience, scale, and an overall competitive advantage to secure a leadership position.
This will be on the NCS and in selected international areas where we can add value by combining use of existing infrastructure, improving oil recovery, executing strict production cost control thereby achieving faster return on investments.

Equinor will seek to divest lower performing or non-strategic assets. Improving efficiency will remain a priority, driven by implementation of technology at scale, digitalisation and automation.

When we access new acreage and future exploration, we will focus on areas where we already have activity and existing infrastructure, ensuring shorter time span from discovery to production to capitalise on previous investments. Frontier exploration will be limited.

High value growth in renewables

Equinor aims to be among the top global players in offshore wind. With 12-16 gigawatts of installed renewable capacity by 2030, we are moving our existing ambition forward by five years.

We will build a profitable business, looking to increase returns on offshore wind through regional synergies, project financing, strategic farm downs, like those we realised in the Arkona, Doggerbank and Empire Wind transactions. We will seek to execute projects at scale, strive for technical improvements, and drive profits from energy trading.

Equinor has a position of advantage in floating offshore wind, but we must continue to reduce costs. Through early access to less mature markets, where both the risk and the potential returns are higher, Equinor can build leadership positions.

We will test future business opportunities in selected renewable markets onshore.

New market opportunities in low-carbon solutions

Low-carbon value chains are critical if we are to decarbonise the global economy. Equinor is uniquely positioned to become a leader in CCS and hydrogen in Europe.

Equinor will actively contribute to maturing these markets and aims for a leadership position in the European CCS market with a market share above 25%.

Equinor expects government subsidies to play a key role over the next decade with policy choices supporting the industry in developing markets for CCS and hydrogen.

We have a strong starting point on the Norwegian continental shelf and in the United Kingdom. The company draws on 25 years of operational experience from carbon capture and storage at Sleipner and Snøhvit and decades of commercial partnerships with key industrial customers in Europe.

We are already taking part in leading projects to industrialise CCS and hydrogen. We are prepared to scale up investment and technologies as markets mature.

How we will get there - together

With a highly skilled workforce, our values and a long history of technology and innovation, Equinor is in a unique position to become a leading company in the energy transition.