Monthly Archives: August 2021

Aug 24 (Reuters) - The Biden administration said on Tuesday it would take steps to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program in the next week and plans to hold a Gulf of Mexico auction as soon as October, court papers showed.

The move comes two months after the U.S Interior Department first said it would comply with a June 15 federal judge's order blocking its months-long pause in oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.

That order was a blow to a key White House effort to address climate change by reining in fossil fuel extraction.

U.S. President Joe Biden paused the oil and gas leasing program in January, pending an analysis of its impacts on the environment and value to taxpayers. Interior said in a statement that it is still conducting that review.

The filing to a Louisiana federal district court on Tuesday was in response to a motion by the state of Louisiana and 12 other states from earlier this month that sought to compel Interior to restart the leasing program and to show why it should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with the order issued weeks earlier.

Interior has "expended significant agency resources, including many hundreds of employee-hours, preparing to hold oil and gas lease sales," the brief said.

The agency will take procedural steps by the end of this month to prepare for a sale of oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The auction itself is expected in October or November.

Regarding onshore leasing, the Interior's Bureau of Land Management will post a list of parcels for potential sale within the next week, followed by a public comment period that will result in sale notices published in December, the court documents said.

An oil and gas industry group, the Western Energy Alliance, criticized the administration's plans, saying the sales that were put on hold had already undergone thorough analyses and were "ready to put on the calendar."

"The brief filed today with the court appears to show progress, but the slow walk indicates one step forward and three steps back," Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma said in a statement.

Other Top Energy stories

Phillips 66 puts Alliance, Louisiana refinery up for sale

China's provinces still planning over 100 GW of new coal projects - Greenpeace

Oil prices hold above $70 after two-day rally

German court says EU rules apply to Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Reporting by Nichola Groom and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Tom Hogue, Christian Schmollinger and Kim Coghill

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S. to restart oil leasing with offshore auction this year - Reuters

Offshore wind joint development partners rsted and Eversource are planning the construction of the first American-built offshore wind substation, which will be deployed at the developers South Fork Wind project serving New Yorks Long Island.

Kiewit Offshore Services will design and build the substation for the 132-MW South Fork Wind project New Yorks first offshore wind farm. The 1,500-ton, 60-ft-tall substation will be built at Kiewits facility in Ingleside, Texas, near Corpus Christi.

More than 350 workers across three states will support this South Fork Wind structure. The fabrication workers in Ingleside will be supported by teams in Houston and Kansas. In addition, hundreds of union workers in the Northeast will support the South Fork Wind project and additional initiatives in the region.

Were helping to build a new U.S. manufacturing industry that will create thousands of good-paying jobs not just in the Northeast but in communities across the United States, said David Hardy, CEO of rsted Offshore North America. Were proud to partner with Kiewit to deliver the first American-made offshore wind substation. This initiative is part of our commitment to deliver for our long-term partners, combining international experience with local expertise in communities across the country.

Offshore wind substations are critical components of utility-scale offshore wind farms. Substations collect the power produced by wind turbines and connect the clean energy to the grid. The offshore substation will consist of a topside resting on a mono-pile foundation.

Achieving our nations clean energy goals will be largely dependent on U.S.-based companies like Kiewit, and we are excited to partner with them to deliver the first U.S.-made offshore wind substation, Joe Nolan, CEO and president of Eversource Energy. Our partnership with Kiewit marks another significant milestone for the U.S. offshore wind industry and signals the growth of the next great maritime industry throughout the country. We are committed to creating a clean energy future and fostering opportunities for all Americans.

Kiewit expects to begin construction on the substation in November and complete the work by Spring 2023, before transiting the substation across the Gulf of Mexico and up the East Coast for installation at the South Fork Wind site in the summer of 2023.

South Fork Wind remains on track to be fully permitted in early 2022, with construction activities ramping up soon after and the project producing clean energy by the end of 2023.

The production of clean energy is at a pivotal stage in the U.S., and offshore wind, such as the South Fork Wind project, plays a very important role, said Paul Geldmeier, who leads Kiewits offshore wind power work as executive VP, Kiewit Energy. We are proud to contribute our engineering and construction expertise and experience to this industry-first project.

News item from rsted Offshore North America

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rsted and Eversource plan offshore wind substation in Texas - Windpower Engineering

As technology develops, the size of wind turbines is getting bigger.

Owaki/Kulla | The Image Bank | Getty Images

MingYang Smart Energy has released details of a huge new offshore wind turbine, with the Chinese company aiming to install a prototype in 2023 before starting commercial production the year after.

With a height of 264 meters (866 feet), a rotor diameter of 242 meters and a blade length of 118 meters, the scale of the MySE 16.0-242, as it's known, will be considerable.

In a statement at the end of last week, MingYang said the turbine would have a capacity of 16 megawatts and be able to produce 80,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, which it claimed would be enough to power over 20,000 households.

MingYang is one of several companies attempting to scale-up the size of offshore wind turbines. GE Renewable Energy's Haliade-X turbine, for example, will have a tip-height of 260 meters, 107-meter long blades and a 220-meter rotor.

Its capacity will be able to be configured to 12, 13 or 14 MW. A prototype of the Haliade-X, in the Netherlands, has a tip-height of 248 meters.

Elsewhere, Vestas has revealed plans for a 15 MW turbine, while Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy is working on a 14 MW model, the SG 14-222 DD, which can also be boosted to 15 MW if required.

As technology develops, the size of turbines is increasing. In a report published earlier this year, industry body WindEurope said the average rated capacity of turbines installed in Europe last year was 8.2 MW, a 5% increase on 2019. Capacity refers to the maximum amount a turbine can produce, not necessarily what it's currently generating.

China remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels but it is also becoming a powerhouse in offshore wind. According to data from GWEC Market Intelligence, China installed more than half the planet's offshore wind capacity last year.

With the scale of both turbines and offshore wind farms increasing, attempts are also being made togain insight into how they interact with the marine environment. On Monday, a 7 million ($9.58 million) research program called ECOWind was launched in a bid to expand knowledge on the issue.

The four-year initiative is being headed up by the U.K.-based Natural Environment Research Council in partnership with The Crown Estate and the U.K. government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

In a statement The Crown Estate,which isowned by the Queen andmanages a huge portfolio ofland,said ECOWind would "fund leading edge research into how offshore windfarms affect the marine environment alongside other growing pressures on UK ecosystems including climate change and human activities such as fishing."

Susan Waldron, who is the NERC's director of research and skills, added that the collaborative program would "analyse the ecological consequence of large-scale expansion of offshore windfarms to inform future policy decisions throughout UK waters."

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Chinese firm announces giant 264-meter tall offshore wind turbine - CNBC

Brazil and its tiny neighbors Guyana and Suriname have recently risen to prominence with major oil discoveries despite what most would see as an unfavorable environmentthe energy transition seems to be moving ahead at full speed and oils days should be numbered. Only they arent. And the future of oil appears to be offshore.

Brazil will come to account for a quarter of global offshore oil output by 2025, a recent report by GlobalData said. This would mean South Americas largest country would be supplying some 1.3 million bpd to global markets, most from its prolific presalt zone.

Brazils prolific pre-salt layer in the Santos Basin has produced a strong portfolio of offshore projects [...] These projects have shown robust economics, such as development breakeven oil prices averaging US$40 per barrel and have significantly contributed to South Americas trend of surpassing North Americas offshore production by 2023,said GlobalData senior oil and gas analyst Effuah Alleyne in comments on the report.

Then there are Guyana and Suriname, sharing the same-name oil and gas basin. Guyana came first on the oil map with Exxon and Hess string of major discoveries that have put reserves in the Stabroek Block where the two drill at some 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Suriname is following close, with TotalEnergies tapping a reservoir with an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Some might question the need for tapping all these billions of barrels in new oil output but others have the answer ready. The energy transition will not happen over a decade. It will take a long time and it will be a time during which global populationand its energy needswill be rising.

With most of this new population coming from developing countries, the new energy demand will need to be met in an affordable way and oil and gas are still affordable, wrote David Boggs from energy market research provider Energy Maritime Associates in a recent article published in WorldOil.

Although oil and gas have fallen out of favor rapidly in the eyes of many, the energy transition will take decades. Providing energy for the worlds growing population is complex, and hydrocarbons are still an affordable and reliable source, Boggs noted. The changes discussed here will not happen overnight, but over the next 20+ years, as oil and gas operators strategically navigate the changing landscape of the energy sector.

This navigation may be challenging because of the changes that the energy transition is causing in virtually every industry, especially in financial services. Asset managers are making net-zero commitments, banks are reducing their exposure to oil and gas, and what this means for the oil and gas industry is more obstacles to obtaining funding for new projects.

This is another reason why offshore oil will rule the future. As Brazil and Guyana show, offshore projects in certain locations appear to offer low production costs and high returnsan irresistible combination for lenders. Whats more, most of the worlds untapped oil reserves are offshore so theres simply a greater potential choice of locations.

The fact that supermajors, otherwise busy devising their own net-zero strategies, are all too willing to take part in exploiting Brazils presalt fields should be proof enough there is still future in oil and it is quite a long future simply because different parts of the world are at different stages in their economic development. Renewables are not always a quick and affordable option. Also, oil-rich countries seem loath to see their reserves go to waste.

"We have millions of people without electricity in Africa," Ghana's Energy Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh said at a recent oil and gas industry event. Ghana is believed to be home to some 5 billion untapped barrels of oil, a rare landlocked oil hopeful. "Energy transition does not mean we'll see our resources unexploited," the official added.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

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The Future Of Oil Is Offshore - OilPrice.com

Offshore wind commissioning slowed in the first half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysis by the World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO).

The industry body recorded 1,627MW of offshore wind capacity coming into operation in the first six months of 2021, down 35% on the same period last year.

Six new offshore wind farms went into operation during the first half of the year in 2021 in China, Denmark, the Netherlands and Taiwan. This was down from ten new offshore wind farms entering operations in the same period last year.

In its Global Offshore Wind Report, the industry body defines "added capacity" when all turbines at a wind farm are installed and first power is generated. It counts a project's entire capacity when this milestone is reached, rather than in stages.

The UK remains the worlds biggest offshore wind market with 10.4GW of total installed capacity, according to the WFO.

Meanwhile, China has overtaken Germany as the second largest offshore wind market with 7.9GW of operational capacity, compared with Germanys 7.7GW. Unlike fast-growing China, Germany is not due to add any offshore wind capacity in the second half of the year the first time in more than a decade it will have gone a full calendar year without adding to its offshore wind fleet, following a lack of tenders in recent years.

Industry groups including Germany's wind energy association BWE and offshore wind farm operators group BWO have warned that this stagnation is driving companies to leave the market altogether, resulting in job losses.

Project construction is due to resume in 2022 with projects awarded in tenders in 2017 and 2018 coming online. Germany is also due to begin tendering new capacity this year, with successful projects due to be commissioned from 2026 onwards.

Meanwhile, China has the most offshore wind capacity under construction (5.3GW), ahead of the UK (3.7GW), Taiwan (640MW) and the Netherlands (383MW), according to the WFO. The industry group regards projects as being under construction if the first foundation has been installed, and then counts the projects entire capacity.

Europe accounts for the largest portion of currently operational offshore wind capacity (75.2%), according to WFO figures, ahead of Asia Pacific (24.6%), and the US (0.1%)

Gunnar Herzig, WFO managing director, said: [The] report underlines the truly international dimension of todays offshore wind industry with more than 50% of offshore wind construction taking place outside Europe.

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Global offshore wind farm commissioning slows in H1 - Windpower Monthly

OSLO, Norway, Aug. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aker ASA ("Aker") announced today that it has entered a strategic partnership with SalMar ASA ("SalMar") to establish a global offshore aquaculture company. The new joint company, SalMar Aker Ocean AS ("SalMar Aker Ocean"), will operate within offshore fish farming, including offshore and semi-offshore, combining Aker and SalMar's industry experience, leading competence in salmon production, software, and cleantech to create the world's most reliable and intelligent offshore farming operations with the highest requirements for fish welfare and a zero-emissions value chain ambition.

"The aquaculture industry is at the cusp of a new, more sustainable era, opening up for a new resource base and with green production," said yvind Eriksen, President and CEO of Aker. "The new company combines Aker's leading industrial track record within offshore operations with SalMar's history as one of the world's largest and most efficient producers of farmed salmon. We also share a vision for the potential of software, data, and analytics, and we believe we can join forces to make the next step to develop ocean farming, including using technology and joint industrial capabilities to protect ocean health, fish welfare and promote sustainable growth."

SalMar and Aker through its wholly owned subsidiary Aker Capital AS, will eventually own 66.6 per cent and 33.4 per cent, respectively, of the joint company, SalMar Aker Ocean, which will comprise SalMar's interests in its semi-offshore and offshore farming operations. Aker will contribute up to NOK 1.65 billion cash in three tranches. The company will continue the ongoing work within testing, learning, researching, and developing offshore farming operations, including through the world's first operating offshore fish farm, Ocean Farm 1; and the technology of the innovative Smart Fish Farms to be positioned in offshore Norwegian waters, and eventually internationally. Norway is currently at the forefront in developing this technology and industry world-wide. Ocean Farm 1 and Smart Fish Farm have both been developed with a unique interdisciplinary partnership between SalMar building on more than 30 years of experience - and world-leading players in Norway within aquaculture, offshore and R&D. Olav Andreas Ervik will head the company as CEO and the board will consist of six members, including Gustav Witze, Atle Eide, Kjell Inge Rkke and yvind Eriksen.

Story continues

The new offshore technology opens vast new areas for fish farming with optimal biological conditions for the salmon. SalMar Aker Ocean will continue to develop the offshore technology to ensure production on the salmon's terms, meet the highest requirements in respect of fish welfare and minimize the environmental footprint.

"SalMar's focus on the open ocean marked the start of a new era in the seafood industry. We are very pleased to be partnering with a strong industry partner like Aker. Together, we will be at the forefront of ensuring sustainable growth on the salmon's terms, utilizing the potential of the ocean to produce healthier food, deploying digital technologies, cleantech, and using superior supplier industry capabilities at a critical time for ensuring sustainable food production in the long-term. Together, we can take the next technological leap for offshore farming, with a global ambition" said Gustav Witze, CEO of SalMar.

Over two production cycles, 10,000 tonnes of salmon have been produced at Ocean Farm 1, a full-scale pilot facility based on world-class Norwegian aquaculture and offshore technology. The two production cycles have shown strong biological results and has given valuable insights in respect of future development. The construction and operation of the pilot, combined with Aker's leading engineering, offshore operation, and fabrication capabilities, gives SalMar Aker Ocean an unparalleled position in the next phase of developing offshore fish farming on a global scale.

To further accelerate growth, the parties will immediately initiate a project to develop a next-generation semi offshore unit, with an aim at reaching an investment decision for a new production unit as soon as possible.

Based on the experience from Ocean Farm 1, SalMar Ocean has developed the Smart Fish Farm technology, with an ambition to build a series of units for offshore production. SalMar Aker Ocean will continue this work to streamline and digitalize construction and operation processes and will jointly seek approval for locations and licenses offshore, initially within the Norwegian Economic Zone.

SalMar Aker Ocean has an ambition to develop a world leading company with global presence. The company will initially focus on establishment of offshore fish farming in Norwegian waters, which will require establishment of a regulatory framework for offshore fish farming. SalMar Aker Ocean will collaborate with Norwegian regulators, the aquaculture industry and other interested parties for the establishment of such framework. In the longer term, SalMar Aker Ocean will target growth in international markets building on experience and know-how from Norway.

The establishment of the joint company is subject to customary closing conditions, and closing is expected in Q1 2022. The parties aim for listing of SalMar Aker Ocean on a relevant stock exchange within one to two years' time.

SalMar presents results for the second quarter 2021 on Thursday 26 August 2021 at 12:00 CEST in the auditorium at Sparebank 1 SMN offices in Sndre Gate 4 in Trondheim. Representatives for both companies Gustav Witze, Leif Inge Nordhammer, Olav Andreas Ervik, Kjell Inge Rkke and yvind Eriksen - will, immediately following the results presentation, jointly hold a presentation outlining the new collaboration, and will be available for answering questions. This will be done in Norwegian.

Given current disease prevention measures due to Covid-19, it will be limited number of seats available. For registration, please contact corporateaccess@sb1markets.no

For more information, please contact:

Atle Kigen, Head of Media Relations and Public Affairs, Aker ASATel: +47 90784878Email: atle.kigen@akerasa.com

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This stock exchange announcement was published by Laila Hop, Paralegal, Aker ASA, on August 26, 2021 at 08:00 CEST.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/aker-asa/r/aker-asa--enters-partnership-with-salmar-to-create-world-leading-offshore-farming-operations,c3403381

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Aker ASA: Enters partnership with SalMar to create world leading offshore farming operations - Yahoo Finance

The federal government undercounts oil and gas worker deaths, according to a new journalism investigation by a team that includes Southerly and Drilled News.

Since the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, which killed 11 workers and spilled more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government has worked to improve worker safety.

While journalists found that the number of worker deaths have declined since then, they also found that unless the deaths were tied directly to oil and gas tasks, deaths on the job were not counted.

If someones on their way out to a platform and they die in a helicopter crash or in a capsizing of a boat [en route to work], theyre not counted, said Sara Sneath, a freelance journalist who authored the investigation for Southerly. Or if theyre on the rig itself and they die of a heart attack, then theyre not counted.

Sneath found that of the 83 known offshore worker fatalities that occurred between 2005 and 2019, about 30% or 24 deaths were classified as non-occupational. The non-work-related fatalities during this period occurred an average of 60 miles away from shore, according to her analysis.

If you found the reporting above valuable, please consider making a donation to support it here. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.

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Federal Government Offers Stricter Counts Of Offshore Oil And Gas Worker Deaths - Texas Standard

Second Quarter and First Half Result 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

In the second quarter, BW Offshore continued to make significant progress in executing the dual-track strategy of evolving the core FPSO business and capturing energy transition opportunities by developing adjacent business areas.

EBITDA for the second quarter of 2021 was USD 91.1 million, a decrease from USD 110.8 million in the previous quarter. The decrease in EBITDA was mainly driven by non-recurring costs related to lay-up of Cidade de So Vicente and sail away of Umuroa from New Zealand.

During the quarter, BW Offshore secured key equipment packages and work-scope related to the Barossa FPSO hull, mooring and topside fabrication. Project execution is progressing to plan.

The debt and equity financing for the Barossa project is near completion with a syndicate of nine international project finance banks providing a 14-year USD 1.15 billion combined construction and long-term debt financing. BW Offshore and three global infrastructure equity partners will contribute 51% and 49% of the project equity, respectively.

2021 is a strategically important year for BW Offshore. We are very pleased with the progress made on the Barossa project, with first steel cut for the hull planned for next month. We are successfully locking in packages and contracts despite the challenging commodity market. said Marco Beenen, the CEO of BW Offshore. In addition to full speed on the Barossa project, we are focusing on delivering on our strategy by contributing to the energy transition, developing our floating wind project pipeline and we have now submitted bids for the ScotWind tender.

The Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of USD 0.035 per share. Shares will trade ex- dividend from 31 August 2021. Shareholders recorded in VPS following the close of trading on Oslo Brs on 1 September 2021 will be entitled to the distribution payable on or around 9 September 2021.

Please see attachments for the Half-Year Report and Presentation. The earnings tables are available at: https://bwoffshore.com/ir/quarterly-results/

BW Offshore will host a conference call of the financial results at 09:00 (CEST) today. The presentation will be given by CEO Marco Beenen and CFO Stle Andreassen.

Conference call information:

To dial in to the conference call where the first half year and second quarter results and Q&A will be hosted, please dial one of the following numbers:

Norway: +47 2396 3938UK: +44 3333 009 260US: +1 6467 224 957France: +33 170 750 737Singapore: +65 6429 8349 (PIN: 81560184#)

You can also follow the presentation via webcast with supporting slides, available on:

https://streams.eventcdn.net/bwo/q2-2021/register

Please note that if you follow the webcast via the above URL, you will experience a 30 second delay compared to the main conference call.

For further information, please contact:Stle Andreassen, CFO, +65 97 27 86 47Anders S. Platou, Head of Corporate Finance & Strategy, +47 99 50 47 40

IR@bwoffshore.com http://www.bwoffshore.com

About BW Offshore:

BW Offshore engineers innovative floating production solutions. The Company has a fleet of 14 FPSOs with potential and ambition to grow. By leveraging four decades of offshore operations and project execution, the Company creates tailored offshore energy solutions for evolving markets world-wide. BW Offshore has around 2,000 employees and is publicly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

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BW Offshore: Second Quarter and First Half Result 2021 - GlobeNewswire

The recent offshore fishing has provided lots of action for a mix of bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, dorado, and yellowtail. The immediate story of the past two days is that the bluefin and yellowfin bites have taken a dip. Even during the current dip in the hot fishing there are still bluefin and yellowfin around and biting. In all likelihood, it is only just a matter of time before they pop up in big numbers and start biting in force.

The bluefin tuna attract most of the attention and they have been nice-sized fish that have ranged from 15 to 200-plus pounds with most falling within the 25 to 80-pound range. Yellowfin tuna have been biting with the bluefin and for the most part, they have been in the 15 to 30-pound class. Most of the dorado have been running from 6 to 15 pounds and most of the yellowtail have been in the 12 to 25-pound range.

Before the recent two-day downturn in the bluefin and yellowfin bites, the hotspot tuna area was around the eastern part of Catalina Island with good tuna fishing being found in the region of the Avalon Bank, the Slide, the lower end of the Steamer Lanes, the 125 Spot, the 152 Spot and in the area 4 to 8 miles southwesterly from Church Rock. Other areas that have also been producing bluefin and yellowfin in recent days have been in the region of the 499 Spot, the 289 Spot, the 14 Mile Bank, the 277 Spot, the 209 Spot, the 181 Spot, the 312 Spot, and the 178 Spot.

A lot of the bluefin hookups have come from stopping alongside spots of breaking fish, foaming fish, or breezing fish and casting poppers, Colt Snipers, stick baits, or surface iron to the bluefin before they sound. There have also been bluefin biting from stopping and drifting on sonar marks, meter marks, and spots of breezing, breaking, or foaming fish. When boats are drifting, bluefin have been biting on flylined live sardines and live mackerel and on rubber band, torpedo sinker rigged live sardines and live mackerel. Yellowfin tuna and dorado have been biting incidental to the bluefin fishing and kelp paddies that are fished with live sardines have been producing yellowtail and most of the dorado.

Bluefin have been biting both day and night and when fishing sonar marks or meter marks found in the dark, Flat Fall jigs, knife jigs and sinker rigged live baits have been most effective. Trolling with spreader bar rigs and with cedar plugs has been producing an occasional bluefin or yellowfin. Slow trolling with sardines and mackerel has also been effective for bluefin, yellowfin, dorado, and yellowtail.

Boats fishing offshore banks below and outside of Los Coronado Islands have been catching yellowtail and dorado around kelp paddies. Productive areas have been the 182 Spot, the lower end of the 9 Mile Bank, the 224 Spot, the Corner, the 302 Spot, the 230 Spot, the 371 Bank, the 101 Spot, the 425 Bank, and the Upper Hidden Bank.

Until a new tuna hot spot zone pops up, some of the boats that would otherwise be tuna fishing offshore are fishing kelp and hard bottom areas around San Clemente Island where there has been good yellowtail fishing and a chance at catching fair numbers of 12 to 25-pound bluefin tuna. The White Rock region has been productive along with Pyramid Head, Purse Seine Rock, and the 9 Fathom Spot that is located at the West End of the Island. Most of the yellowtail have been in the 12 to 25-pound class.

The yellowtail fishing at Los Coronado Islands has improved and the Rockpile is the current yellowtail hotspot. In addition to yellowtail, the Rockpile has also been productive for bonito and rockfish. There are additional productive areas around Los Coronado Islands that have been providing good mixed bag fishing for calico bass, barracuda, yellowtail, reds, and rockfish. Good spots have been the weather side of North Island, the Middle Grounds, the north end of South Island, the Ribbon Kelp, the lighthouse at the south tip of South Island, and the South Kelp.

Yellowtail at Los Coronado Islands has been located by finding sonar marks, meter marks, spots of fish up on the surface, trolling strikes on deep diving Rapalas, and trolling strikes on slow trolled sardines. Good choices for surface iron that work well for yellowtail and barracuda include Salas 7X lights and Tady 45s in blue and white, mint and sardine colors. Slow trolled sardines have been one of the best ways for private boaters to try and locate biting yellowtail, bonito, barracuda, and calico bass. The slow trolled sardines also work well for fishing the area of biting fish once they are located.

The San Diego County coast is producing good fishing for a mix of calico bass, sand bass, rockfish, reds, whitefish, sheepshead, and sculpin. There has also been a chance at scratching out a yellowtail at La Jolla and a white seabass off Mission Beach.

There has been some squid to be caught for bait off Mission Beach and there has been an occasional white seabass biting in the squid area. A good depth to look for the squid and white seabass has been in 75 feet. The squid area recently got fished by a couple of purse seine boats and the information I have is that the squid fishing has slowed in recent days.

Captain Joe Cacciola of Sea Star with Sea Star Sportfishing and the Oceanside Sea Center reports fishing kelp bed areas between Solana Beach and Del Mar and finding good fishing for calico bass, short sized barracuda, whitefish, reds, and rockfish. Cacciola adds that they occasionally see a good-sized yellowtail swimming around the boat while they are fishing for calico bass.

Cacciola says they have had 4 to 5.5-inch sardines in their bait supply lately and that these baits have been working well for the kelp bed fishing. Cacciola also reports that some of the Oceanside Sea Center Boats have been fishing deep water for rockfish and that they have been doing well on reds and an assortment of rockfish at hard bottom areas off Leucadia, Solana Beach, and Del Mar. His report on the water temperature along the coast is that it has been running between 70 and 74.5 degrees.

Calico bass have been providing the best surface fishing along the San Diego County coast and productive kelp bed and hard bottom areas for calicos have been the hard bottom to the northwest of Buoy #3 at Point Loma, the Dropoff at Point Loma, the 5 Tanks at Point Loma, the Green Tank at Point Loma, Point Loma College, the Roundhouse at Sunset Cliffs, the upper end of La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Leucadia, South Carlsbad, and the Barn.

The sand bass bite in the Imperial Beach area remains inconsistent but there have been occasional flurries of biting sand bass. The best sand bass fishing has been coming from meter marks found over hard bottom areas above the Imperial Beach Pier.

The yellowtail fishing along the San Diego area coast continues to be slow with the upper end of La Jolla providing the best chance at scratching out a coastal yellowtail. With the exception of short-sized barracuda that must be released, the barracuda and bonito fishing along the San Diego area coast remains slow.

The halibut fishing has been fair and the best halibut bite area has been while fishing the sandy bottom off Mission Beach around the structure of the Yukon Shipwreck and the sunken NEL Tower. Other places along the San Diego County coast where occasional halibut have been reported have been Imperial Beach, San Diego Bay, outside of South Ponto Beach, the sandy bottom next to the Buccaneer Pipeline, and the sandy bottom next to the artificial reefs off Oceanside.

The summer fishing season marches on with lots of good choices to select from in planning a day of fishing. I hope you can make a point of getting out on the water as much as you can to enjoy the summer season while it is here. Keep on fishing and I hope to see you out on the water sometime soon!

Bob Vanian is the voice, writer, and researcher of the San Diego-based internet fish report service called 976-Bite which can be found at http://www.976bite.com. Vanian also provides anglers with a personal fish report service over the telephone at (619) 226-8218. He always welcomes your fish reports at that same phone number or at bob976bite@aol.com.

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Bluefin, Yellowfin, Yellowtail, and Dorado Biting Offshore The Log - The Log Newspaper

A new law to force big oil and gas producers to pay the cost of removing their offshore rigs from the ocean passed through Parliament this week, with federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt warning industry that taxpayers will not foot the bill to remove their old infrastructure.

Mr Pitt told Parliament the industry-wide clean-up bill due over the next 30 years was estimated at $60 billion.

Resources Minister Keith Pitts has enacted new laws to ensure offhsore petroleum producers foot the bill for decommissioning their rigs. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill creates a trailing liability for offshore petroleum companies, effective retrospectively from January 1 this year. It gives government call-back powers to force previous owners of an asset to pay for decommissioning if the current owner cannot.

The trailing liability provisions will be an action of last resort when all other safeguards have been exhausted and will reduce the risk that the financial costs of decommissioning will be left to Australian taxpayers, Mr Pitt said.

It also sets the expectation that sellers will undertake appropriate due diligence before selling assets, titles and infrastructure, so they can avoid being called back to decommission and remediate title areas.

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Industry and environment groups have cautiously welcomed the passage of the bill, covering Australias offshore oil and gas fields on the North West Shelf in Western Australia and Bass Strait.

Mr Pitts reform was prompted by the case of the Northern Endeavour, which the federal government was forced to take ownership of in 2019. The industry regulator had shut down production on the ageing vessel due to safety concerns after the small company that had taken it over from Woodside entered liquidation. Mr Pitt has promised to soon impose a levy across the industry to pay for the removal of that rig.

Peak industry lobby the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association opposed trailing liability laws during consultation on the reform, arguing it could encourage the final titleholder ... to walk away from the property and reallocate decommissioning costs to former titleholders.

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New laws force offshore oil and gas industry to pay $60 billion clean-up cost - Sydney Morning Herald