DOWNSTREAM ENERGY RATE ACCELERATION 'RELENTLESS' IN Q4

Rate acceleration in downstream energy was “relentless” in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Marsh JLT Specialty. Insurer discipline strengthened, and some withdrawals from the class reversed supply/demand dynamics to favour capacity providers, the broker said in a report. Although doubts remain over the scale of a loss at a refinery in Philadelphia over the summer, the explosion at Port Neches, Texas, has driven the downstream market into negative territory for the third consecutive year. Global aggregated reserved losses are now in excess of $12.5bn against gross premiums benchmarking at less than 50% of that, by Marsh JLT Specialty’s reckoning. In order to achieve technical rate adequacy, carriers must increase prices by between 40% and 60%, the firm added.