An article in today's Wall Street Journal got me thinking about how to put the BP oil spill into perspective.
The gist of it is that although insured losses from the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast oil spill could reach $3.5 billion insured, according to Moody's, this disaster and the volcanic ash mess earlier this year could end up being a shot in the arm for the insurance industry. In the case of the oil spill, 80 percent of the losses will be carried by self-insured BP, and the volcanic ash thing had little impact on insured losses. The "upside" is, insurers will be able to hike rates on property coverage for oil rigs and offshore energy liability insurance to reflect the increase in risk.
The article concludes:
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
