In India, the Pondicherry region has reported about 400 deaths with another 30,000 people left homeless, but the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Karaikal fields in Pondicherry have not been damaged despite being hit by the huge waves, according to India’s Business Standard newspaper.

The operations of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., which have refineries in South India, also appeared to be unaffected, according to a Press Trust of India report.

However, the Chennai Port suffered major losses in the catastrophe, with four ships destroyed by the tsunami.

Indonesia also seems to have escaped serious damage to its petroleum sector and Lanka IOC reported no damage to its refineries and other petroleum interests in Sri Lanka, the country worst affected by the tragedy.

The lack of disruption to the petroleum sector should help economic recovery from the giant waves’ effects, but the economic damage to Sri Lanka could be severe.

Infrastructure has been badly damaged and the cost of repair and aid work could widen Sri Lanka's deficit, hurting economic recovery, as the government spends more to finance post-disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts, Bloomberg reported.

In addition, Sri Lanka's economy relies heavily on foreign tourists but many tourists have cancelled their bookings and flights as most beach resorts and hotels on the southern and eastern coast have been washed away. Shares on the Colombo stock exchange were down by 4.32% at the close of trading on Tuesday, according to a BBC report.