Abstract
A review has been carried out of 140 major losses in the onshore oil, gas and petrochemical industries over the last 25 years. The purpose of this study is primarily to guide insurance risk engineers on which loss control areas to focus on during a typical risk engineering survey. This study supports the Lloyd’s Market Association’s key information guidelines for risk engineering survey reports and the guidelines for the conduct of risk engineering surveys and also builds upon previous studies. The study may also be of interest to those working in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries who are looking for lessons learned opportunities to assist in their own risk management programmes.
The scope of the analysis was man-made losses only, thus excluding all those from natural catastrophes. Similarly, it focuses only on large monetary losses. Therefore, some losses resulting in a significant number of injuries or fatalities but small monetary loss, may not be included. The analysis focused on the loss control elements that failed, rather than the underlying root causes, as this information is not always available to insurers. The Willis Engineering Loss Database was used to identify all losses greater than US$50 million in the onshore oil, gas and petrochemicals sector from 1996-2021. These losses were then analysed where the information available from insurance industry reports, public investigations or other data sources was sufficiently detailed to allow a robust conclusion about which loss control elements failed.
