In order to generate awareness among the masses about the urgency of conserving petroleum products, the celebration of oil conservat ion week with the participation of PCRA and the entire oil industry under the guidance of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas was started in year 1991. Considering the over whelming response and enthusiasm generated by OCW in the entire country, and to further increase the reach as well as effectiveness of the oil conservation campaign the duration of the program was increased to a fortnight from the year 1997 onwards.

The eco-friendliness of natural gas stands etablished beyond doubt and it is being used in progressively large volumes by Power, Fertilizer, Industrial, Commercial, Domestic and Transport sectors. As the demand is increasing, there is large scope for gas conservation.Keeping this in view, the national fortnightly conservation campaign has been renamed as "Oil & Gas Conservation Fortnight" in place of Oil COnservation Fortnight (OCF) since 2004.

During the fortnight the entire oil industry under the guidance of MOP&NG undertakes various kinds of activities to emphasize the need and importance of conservation of petroleum products & environment protection. The activities undertaken include: dissemination of oil conservation messages through out door publicity, print media, electronic media, training programs, kisan meals, technical meets & distribution of literature in national as well as vernacular languages all over the country.

The activities are carried out by the State Level Co-ordinators (SLCs) of the Oil Industry in each State under the directions of the Regional Level Coordinators (RLCs). Over the years the no. of activities undertaken during OCF has risen from 2000 in 1991 to 5.34 lakh in the year 2006. In order to recognize the efforts of the executing agencies, MOP&NG has instituted awards for the best performing; State Level Coordinators (SLCs), Regional Level Coordinators (RLCs) of the oil industry and the best performing States for the activities conducted during the fortnight. Besides this, State Transport authorities, empanelled energy auditors, industries in large, medium and small categories, who have done exemplary work in energy conservation activities, school children, teachers and their institutions are also given performance awards for the year.