"Last night we received a notification from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) regarding our Empire Wind 1 project, which has been in construction since 2024," Equinor told AFP in an email.

"We will engage directly with BOEM and the Department of Interior to understand the questions raised about the permits we have received from authorities," it said.

Equinor added that it would "not comment about the potential consequences until we know more".

US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum posted Wednesday on X that his department was "directing BOEM to immediately halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis".

Shortly after returning to the White House for a second term in January, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders bringing the wind energy sector to a standstill, including a temporary freeze on federal permitting and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects.

"We're not going to do the wind thing," Trump said in January, calling them "big, ugly windmills" that were dangerous to wildlife.

The Empire Wind project, to be built in two phases around 15 to 30 miles (24-48 kilometres) southeast of Long Island, is the first offshore wind project that would have delivered power directly to New York City.

With 54 turbines, Empire Wind is designed to deliver 810 MW of energy into Brooklyn, powering 500,000 homes.

The project was expected to start electricity production in 2027, and is part of New York State's renewable energy strategy for meeting rising energy demands while reducing the use of fossil fuels, Equinor said.

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Equinor