Refineries on south-east coast operating

Refineries along India's south-east coast - which bore the brunt of Sunday's tidal waves - are operating normally, refinery officials said.

"Our refinery is running normally, as it is located quite far from the sea and wasn't directly hit (by the tidal waves)," an official at the Manali refinery said.

The Manali refinery is located in Chennai in Tamil Nadu state and is owned by Chennai Petroleum Corp, CPC. It has a nameplate refining capacity of 9.5 million metric tonnes/year, or 190,800 barrels a day.

The nearby Chennai port had to suspend berthing and discharging operations, for 24 hours, for cleaning and maintenance after the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Chennai Petroleum's 1 million-tonne a year Cauvery Basin Refinery at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu state, was also unaffected by the tidal waves as it is located inland.

Kochi Refineries Ltd., which owns a 150,000-b/d plant in Cochin in Kerala state, directly west of Tamil Nadu, said operations weren't affected by the tidal waves.

"All operations are going on as normal," a company official told newswires. The refinery is discharging 65,000-tonnes of crude cargo at Cochin port, but has no oil product cargoes scheduled for loading at the moment.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp, which has a 150,000-b/d refinery at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh state, just south of Tamil Nadu, couldn't be reached for comment.

Massive waves triggered by an undersea earthquake on Sunday has killed at least 2,958 people in India, with the death tolls from countries in the region rising as rescue operation continue. The state of Tamil Nadu accounted for most of the deaths in India, the Home Ministry said.

On the Andaman & Nicobar islands, 77 people are reported dead with an additional 1,000 reported missing. The situation is said to be grave. Andhra Pradesh has lost 69 people, Kerala has 130 casualty. Tamil Nadu has lost 2,375 people and Pondicherry has 307 casualty. The situation on the Andaman island is pinned as grave.