** South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham pledges to hold a hearing on electric vehicle batteries and sourcing issues if Republicans win control of the U.S. Senate in next month’s midterms.

** The U.S. military said Monday it’s ready to begin draining 1 million gallons (3.79 million liters) of fuel from three pipelines as part of an initial step toward closing a World War II-era fuel storage facility that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year.

** A Utah startup plans to open a facility early next year that would convert coal and coal combustion waste into crude oil, coal char and commercial gas such as butane.

** The Biden administration completes the environmental review for oil and gas leasing in the Cook Inlet in Alaska, clearing the way for a congressionally mandated auction later this year — with or without industry interest.

** California’s petroleum industry has so far spent more than $5.8 million backing candidates for the state legislature since Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed taxing oil companies’ windfall profits two weeks ago.

** Every New England state except New Hampshire has adopted climate laws requiring greenhouse gas emissions reduction, laying the foundation to secure Inflation Reduction Act funds.

** U.S. exports of nitrogen fertilizers jumped to a multi-year high this summer after surging natural gas prices in Europe drove up costs of producing the crop nutrient there, making U.S. shipments more competitive.

** Hyundai Motor Co will break ground on a $5.54 billion electric vehicle (EV) and battery plant in Georgia as South Korea’s biggest automaker grapples with an uncertain outlook for its EV sales in its top market.

World

** Nations shouldn’t use emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices, Saudi Arabia’s energy chief warned. “Losing emergency stocks may be painful in the months to come,” Saudi’s energy minister said. The comments come as the US has released millions of barrels from strategic reserves in 2022.

** Tightening markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide and major oil producers cutting supply have put the world in the middle of “the first truly global energy crisis”, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

** With the mystery of the blasts that destroyed undersea gas pipelines between Russia and Germany unsolved, Nord Stream 1’s insurers and reinsurers are grappling with how to respond to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential claims.

** U.S. and European business activity fell in October, according to new surveys. A sharp slowdown in services activity, the biggest driver of the U.S. economy, led the decline. Meanwhile, Europe’s energy costs are going up as it goes head to head with Russia over Ukraine war sanctions, and China’s exports are slowing.

** Traders, tanker companies and the world’s most powerful governments are becoming increasingly fixated upon one question in the oil market: can the petroleum industry’s supply chain handle the harshest sanctions on Russian exports in history?

** Russia’s weekly revenues from oil exports fell to the lowest level since Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg data shows. Duty rates declined, and the volume of seaborne crude shipments dropped to a five-week low.

** Bloomberg reports oil tankers with unknown owners are being amassed to ship Russian oil. According to shipbroker Braemar’s estimates, these 240 ships have had a history of assisting sanctions-laden petroregimes in continuing their oil exports – many of the tankers, including some of the 102 Aframaxes, 58 Suezmaxes, and 80 very-large crude carriers, were involved in shipping Iranian and Venezuelan crude just last year.