Offshore oil and gas firms' involvement in offshore wind: Technological frames and undercurrents

Abstract

It is commonly acknowledged that the actions and strategies of energy incumbents are important to understand sustainable energy transitions, but few studies have focused on why incumbent firms diversify into emerging sustainable energy sectors. This paper, which is based on a substantial empirical material, contributes to understand the dynamics between mature and emerging industry sectors by analysing the motivation of offshore oil and gas (O&G) sector firms’ to engage in offshore wind (OW). At the surface, we find that O&G sector firms frame OW as an opportunity to exploit and develop existing resources in a new market, which they expect will grow significantly over the coming decades. Furthermore, we find that the frame O&G managers apply when assessing OW is influenced by something we term ‘undercurrents’, as a significant motivation behind some investments in OW is to attract and develop human resources for use in the O&G sector.