ONGC, a state-owned firm, has lent equipment and staff for use in rescue and relief operations in the Karaikal and Nagapattinam districts, which were badly affected by the Boxing Day tsunami, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).

A 40-tonne capacity crane had been pressed into service for clearing ravaged areas that were strewn with boats in various states of disrepair as well as other debris, ONGC general manager for Karaikal, AK Mandal, told PTI.

ONGC’s earthmoving equipment has also been used round the clock for clearing roads and bridges of debris, the report said.

Sixty ONGC workers have been helping in relief operations, providing food and water to about 13,000 affected people everyday and ONGC's medical team was touring the district to vaccinate people and to treat the ill.

"ONGC will continue its assistance until normalcy is restored," Mandal said.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has announced ONGC would continue its E&P operations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were the areas of India hardest hit by the tsunami.

“There has been no damage to any of the oil installations at sea,” petroleum secretary SC Tripathi told India News.

“The tsunami will not impact our exploration plans in the Andamans where two blocks have already been awarded to ONGC. [But] in view of the tsunami, all precautions would be taken into account while constructing facilities for exploration and production of gas and oil.”

Chief consultant of the state-owned Oil Industry Development Board Avinash Chandra has called for more exploration in ONGC’s two blocks.

“Tsunami will not have any major effect on the exploration of the ONGC blocks in Andaman and Nicobar” Chandra told India News.

“Seismic has indicated presence of shallow gas in these blocks. ONGC may even find deep gas or oil in these blocks.”

He said ONGC would find gas at depths of between 700-800 metres and 1,000 metres. Sub-sea production facilities would have to be put up to extract the gas there and would be built with safety in mind, according to Chandra.

“ONGC would be taking into consideration and putting up earthquake proof sub-sea facility and more adequate precautions than normal,” he said.

“This system can also indirectly help in providing forewarning of earthquake and in feeding data into the regional monitoring system. The exploration and production facilities are designed keeping in view the data of the last 100 years and forecast for another 100 years. Now with the tsunami having occurred in the Indian Ocean, further safety steps would have to be taken.”

Chandra said any appraisal well drilled in the blocks would be designed with the zone’s earthquake-prone nature of the zone in mind and would have sensors to shut down in the event of any quake.