TALKING INSURANCE: A BRIEF ON OIL AND GAS INSURANCE (2)

The upstream exposures are inclusive but not limited to blowout, removal of wrecks and debris, clean-up and containment, pollution, consequential loss/business interruption, and war and special perils.

Others are injury /death of workers, construction of platform, rig, pipe-laying whether offshore on onshore, third party liabilities, delay in start up, standby charges, additional work etc, communal strife, riot and strike, civil commotion and sabotage, and last but not least, kidnap and ransom.

Whilst it is agreeable that the downstream exposures are  not as complex as those of the upstream sector, they  include 'Vapour cloud explosion', 'Aircraft refuelling liability, Fire and explosion perils, General Third Party Liability (Product and Professional indemnity), transportation etc.

Adequate skills must be deployed
With the mere mention of the exposures highlighted above, it is obvious that as insurers and brokers, we need to ensure that adequate and competent skills are deployed and backed with robust energy reinsurance package in order to fully actualize the potentials provided by the NOGICD Act 2010 and in the long run record increased industry premium turn over with remarkable contribution from the oil and gas industry as it experienced by the Nigerian nation.

Fellow professionals and insurers should thus position themselves to fully tap into the opportunities created by the signing into law of the Petroleum Industry Content Development Act 2010 and the NAICOM guidelines for Oil and Gas Insurance business in Nigeria.

To the economy at large, more premium capital is retained within the country thereby preventing capital flight. Hence, the crucial need for collaboration by all of us in the industry to begin to straighten things out and strategise properly. No one else could love our country more than ourselves. This is a task that must be done.