Oil & Gas Insurance Seminar
March 06, 2007

Phnom Penh – The Cambodia Oil & Gas Insurance Consortium (COGIC) held a preliminary seminar today at Forte Insurance to establish working relationships with major stakeholders in the local oil & gas insurance market. The workshop was presided over by a panel of experts from Lloyd’s of London, and attended by executives from Cambodia’s insurance industry and officials from Cambodia National Petroleum Authority (CNPA).

The panel of experts from London brings their considerable expertise in international oil & gas insurance and will help build technical expertise and capacity to the petroleum authority and the insurance consortium.

Currently, oil & gas insurances are placed with foreign insurers, with little or no revenue to the country. To protect national interest, COGIC, CNPA and TRS (Total Risk Solution) from London will work together to develop a local oil & gas insurance market. TRS, in particular, will advise CNPA on the insurance needs and adequacy of coverage as well as provide training on insurance. The consortium together with TRS will also give advice on the selection of reinsurance brokers by searching for the most competitive quotations at Lloyd’s.

COGIC will be the primary underwriter for oil & gas insurance, while CNPA will establish minimum insurance requirements and necessary legal framework for the emerging energy industry. This will help protect the interest of Cambodia by limiting the outflow of premiums to foreign insurers or captive companies.

Members of the consortium include Forte Insurance, Asia Insurance, Caminco, and Cambodia Re. Forte Insurance, as the leading insurer of the local insurance industry, will manage and administer the consortium. The chairman of TRS, Mr. Simon mentioned that as all insurance would be placed locally, the consortium could expect to build up capacity over time, and be able to accept larger risks with less reliance on overseas reinsurance.

The discovery of oil and gas reserves off the shore of Cambodia has led to huge potential investment in the energy industry. According to the World Bank and other researchers, Cambodian total reserves could contain up to 2 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of gas. This will provide up to $6 billion of revenue to the country per year, which almost matches 2006 GDP estimated at $6.6 billion dollars.