Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) came into existence in 1975 after the enactment of Oil Industry (Development) Act 1974. The Board is mandated under the said Act to provide assistance by way of making grants or advancing loans, providing guarantees on loans and deferred payments of oil industrial concerns, underwriting or subscribing to the stock, shares, bonds and debentures of oil industrial concerns. The assistance is provided by the Board for undertaking the following activities:
• Prospecting for and exploration of mineral oil within India (including the continental shelf thereof) or outside India;
• The establishment of facilities for production, handling, storage and transport of crude oil;
• Refining and marketing of petroleum and petroleum products;
• The manufacture and marketing of petrochemicals and fertilizers;
• Scientific, technological and economic research which could be, directly or indirectly, useful to oil industry;
• Experimental or pilot studies in any field of oil industry;
• Training of personnel, whether in India or outside, engaged or to be engaged in any field of oil industry and such other measures as may be prescribed.
In pursuance of its mandate, OIDB has been providing assistance through Grants to the five regular grantee institutes namely Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD), Centre for High Technology (CHT), Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) and Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).The Board is also providing capital grant to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) to meet its capital expenditure on the projects being carried out at Sivasagar, Assam and Jaes, Rae Bareilly.
To promote R&D in the oil sector, OIDB has provided assistance to various projects of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, IIT Mumbai, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology Chennai, Bharatidasan University, Tamil Nadu and projects of Government of Rajasthan. Besides, OIDB has also contributed Rs.40 crore towards Hydrogen Corpus Fund (HCF), which was created by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India to promote use of hydrogen as auto fuel.
OIDB has been providing loan to oil PSUs ever since its creation in 1974-75. The quantum of loan disbursed by OIDB has increased from Rs.16.01 crore in 1974-75 to an average of about Rs.1900 crores during the last five years. GAIL, IOC, HPCL, BPCL and MRPL are the major beneficiaries of the loans released by OIDB. The loan has been primarily utilised to fund gas and oil pipeline projects, setting up of new refineries and quality improvement of existing refineries, single point mooring projects and city gas distribution projects.
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of OIDB. ISPRL is a Special Purpose Vehicle for setting up 5.33 million metric tons (MMT) of strategic crude oil storages at three locations namely, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur (near Udupi). These strategic storages would be in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and would serve as a cushion in response to external supply disruptions. The approved equity contribution of OIDB in ISPRL is Rs.3832.56 crore.
OIDB is instrumental in setting up of Hydrocarbon Sector Skill Council (HSSC) along with Petrofed. HSSC has the vision to meet diverse skill requirements of the Hydrocarbon Industry and enhancing employability and opportunities, locally and globally.
OIDB also administers OIDB Relief Trust, which was created by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on 9.7.2000. About Rs.15 crores has been released from the Trust account since its creation in 2001-02.