BP took a “pure portfolio decision” to stay out of California’s debut offshore wind auction to focus resources in other markets, the oil giant’s renewable energy chief told Recharge.

The UK-based supermajor was a qualified bidder in the $750m round that in December 2022 awarded seabed for at least 4.6GW of floating wind capacity, and had been expected to bid with Equinor, its offshore wind partner in projects off New York.

But BP in the event stayed away in what executive vice president for gas & low carbon energy Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath said “had nothing to with the attractiveness of the auction and of California because we see integration value in California”, but took into account the demanding timelines of the developments.

Dotzenrath said: “[In] California we did a full analysis and we were ready to bid, [but] we decided, and it was my decision ultimately, that I needed to focus on other projects first.

“If I look at where I focus my resources I would say the existing projects and upcoming auctions, in particular the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Denmark are relatively more important.

“It’s a pure portfolio decision. We let this go. You will see us participating in many other auctions.”

Dotzenrath earlier this week told Recharge that claims BP is pulling back from offshore wind are wide of the mark, but confirmed the future focus will be on projects that can integrate with a wider value chain such as EV charging or green hydrogen.

The BP renewables chief insisted the group remains “happy with the portfolio and the partnership” with Equinor after in 2020 paying $1.1bn to join the Norwegian group off New York, in what was the supermajor’s debut foray into offshore wind.

The Equinor-BP joint venture is developing the 2.1GW Empire Wind 1 & 2 and 1.2GW Beacon Wind 1 projects and has submitted bids into New York’s round 3 tender with a 1.3GW Beacon Wind 2 proposal.

Asked by Recharge if BP plans more US offshore wind forays with Equinor, Dotzenrath said: “I’m focused on the projects we have and we’ll take it from there.”

Equinor for its part emerged a winner in the 6 December round, paying $130m – the lowest price in the auction – for the westernmost acreage in Morro Bay off the central California coastline.

BP hinted it will seek to enter the floating market soon – it has up to now only announced fixed-bottom offshore wind investments – when David Petruska, its senior advisor on floating wind solutions, told an industry conference it is “actively pursuing” leases for development.

Floating wind is increasingly being seen a must-have if the US is going to reach the Biden adminstration’s “national goal” of having 30GW of offshore plant operating by 2030 off its coastlines, and as key to slashing emissions from existing oil & gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and generating green hydrogen to decarbonise coastal industry.