The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply yesterday that as per the Oil Industry (Development) Act 1974, OIDB gives grants and loans for exploration/production of mineral oil, refining, processing, transportation, storage, handling and marketing of mineral oil, production and marketing of all products down-stream of an oil refinery, and the production of fertilizers and petro-chemicals and all activities directly or indirectly connected therewith. Accordingly, OIDB has been providing financial assistance to oil companies. The financial assistance in the form of loans provided by OIDB to oil companies during the last three years is given below:
(Rs. in crores)
| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014 -15 |
| 2307.00 | 2487.65 | 1459.85 |
OIDB sanctions funds for the purposes mentioned in OI(D) Act, 1974 based on the need of the oil companies and subject to availability of funds.
The details of funds released by OIDB to Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) during the last three years are as under:-
(Rs. in crores)
| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| 46.96 | 41.54 | 40.86 |
It is difficult to estimate the fuel conserved solely due to the efforts of PCRA, though PCRA informed that as per the impact assessment studies by market research organizations, estimated perceived saving on petroleum products in the year 2012-13 was about Rs.19490 crores, and saving in the year 2013-14, over a period of 5 months of intensive campaigning, was about Rs.25757 crores.