NOVEMBER 20239TOP STORIESGOVERNMENT LAUNCHES INCENTIVE PROGRAM TO BOOST EV BATTERY PRODUCTIONONGC TO BEGIN OIL PRODUCTION FROM $ 5 BILLION DEEP-WATER PROJECTAccording to people familiar with the matter, India intends to solicit bids for an 80 billion rupee ($960 million) incentive program for the production of electric vehicle batteries. The program will require winning bidders to build advanced chemistry battery plants with a total output of 20 gigatonnes per hour, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private. According to reports, the government will solicit bids from potential investors next month.According to the people, companies such as Korea's LG Energy Solution and local heavyweights such as Mahindra & Mahindra Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Exide Industries and Larsen & Toubro Ltd. expressed interest during a consultation meeting with government officials. The government will provide incentives to businesses for the sale of locally manufactured batteries over a five-year period.Requests for comment were not responded to by Mahindra, Amara Raja, Exide, LG, Larsen & Toubro, or the Ministry of Heavy Industries.Last year, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ola Electric Mobility and Rajesh Exports were chosen to produce 30 gigatonnes of battery capacity and receive government incentives under the first phase of this government programme. The state-controlled Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will begin oil production from its long-delayed flagship deepsea project in the Krishna Godavari basin of the Bay of Bengal this month, helping to reverse years of decrease in output. "We plan to start producing from the Cluster-2 project in KG-DWN-98/2 block this month and slowly ramp up," ONGC Director (Production) Pankaj Kumar added A floating production unit, called FPSO, which will be used to produce oil, is already in the block. After several missed deadlines, ONGC has told Shapoorji Pallonji Oil & Gas (SPOG) that its floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Armada Sterling-V should prepare to receive the first oil this month. Oil production from Cluster-2 should have begun by November 2021, but was delayed because of the pandemic, as per PTI.Kumar said ONGC plans to start producing from 3 to 4 wells initially and slowly connect others. "Initial production could be 8,000 to 9,000 barrels per day."The KG deepsea is dangerous territory, and ONGC is wary of repeating the mistakes of Reliance Industries' neighboring KG-D6 block. While gas production in the area is not particularly complicated, sand and water infiltration in wells may occur if oil valves are opened too quickly. An official emphasized that the idea is to drill more wells and produce at optimal quantities rather than rushing in to create larger volumes..
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