More headlines of other energy stories

** In announcing yet another release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, President Biden rejected criticism that the release politically motivated as the White House aims to bring down gas prices with just a few weeks until the midterm elections.  “It’s not politically motivated at all,” Biden told reporters.

** An Inflation Reduction Act provision that only allows electric vehicle drivers to receive a full $7,500 tax credit if their car’s battery is manufactured in North America is spurring large manufacturing projects.

** A Stellantis executive says Michigan is under consideration to land one of the company’s next North American electric vehicle battery plants.

** The Biden administration plans the first ever West Coast offshore wind lease sale in December, offering 373,00 acres — enough for 4.5 GW of generating capacity — off the central and northern California coasts.

** Ameren completes a $215 million, St. Louis-area grid infrastructure project ahead of schedule that the utility says will improve reliability.

** U.S. power plants received 449 million short tons (MMst) of coal in 2021, less than half of the 957 MMst they received in 2010. Coal shipments to U.S. power plants declined over the past decade as coal-fired generation in the country fell and coal-fired power plants shut down.

** An energy company announces it will build a renewable gas facility to convert a byproduct from the Jack Daniel Distillery in Tennessee.

** An Estonian company and Utah utility exploit a legal loophole to retain rights to billions of gallons of water from the dwindling Colorado River for a proposed oil shale mining project in the Uinta Basin.

** U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said he will hold a hearing on electric vehicle batteries and sourcing issues if his party takes control after the November midterm elections.

World

** Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said his country will be working with Russia to create a “natural-gas hub,” Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported. This is a week after Russia’s Putin offered to redirect natural-gas supplies to Europe via Turkey.

** A major Nigerian energy company says it cannot deliver natural gas as promised in its contracts after deadly flooding hindered its operations, raising concerns about whether Africa’s largest economy can meet increased local and international demands during an energy crisis provoked by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

** European leaders from the U.K. to the Czech Republic are getting ready for a long and cold winter, but it could be just the prelude to the real pain, according to Qatar’s energy minister and head of QatarEnergy, Saad al-Kaabi, who said Europe’s energy crisis could be “much worse next year.”

** China’s steel industry is on the brink of bankruptcy. Only 20% of the companies announced a profit in July and with every passing day, the Chinese economy gets weaker.