Deepwater Horizon Insured Losses May Cost $6B

Despite early predictions from many experts downplaying expectations of insurers' potential losses from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, new information from Fitch Ratings indicates that the rupture may run far deeper. http://www.fitchratings.com

Fitch said that the Deepwater Horizon explosion could result in insured losses of as much as $6 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

The explosion was “a material event for the reinsurance sector,” Chris Waterman, a managing director with Fitch, said Wednesday during a presentation in Zurich, Bloomberg wrote.

Despite BP P.L.C. covering most of the cleanup expenses, the disaster may cost insurers between $4 billion and $6 billion, Bloomberg quoted Waterman as saying, with the total economic loss being $35 billion, he continued.

Earlier this year, Swiss Re estimated insured losses to be as much as $3.5 billion, which would make the oil rig explosion the largest man-made insurance loss since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. Back in May, Standard & Poors (S&P), predicted limited claims losses as a result of the spreading disaster. At the time, S&P believed that that despite the spread of the oil and its related contamination, the losses will be spread among multiple markets and reinsurers.