Japan storms cost US$137 million; Europe’s oil industry hit by refinery fires

Last week’s heavy rains in Japan are expected to cost insurers US$137 million, according to the General Insurance Association of Japan. At the same time, the oil industry in Europe is reeling from two refinery firs in the past month which are expected to cost in the tens of millions of Euros.In Japan, The Fukushima and Niigata regions saw rains and flooding last week which are being blamed for about 20 deaths and the evacuation of thousands of residents. Last Friday, Germany’s largest oil refinery, MiRO in Karlsruhe, was struck by fire, and while no injuries were reported, operations were severely reduced, with some expected to remain out of commission for more than a month. MiRO is jointly run by Shell, ExxonMobil, Ruhr and ConocoPhilip. This follows a fire at the Mongstad refinery near Bergen, Norway on July 12. Mongstad, owned by Statoil, was insured by the company’s own captive, as well as Oil Insurance Ltd., Oil Casualty and sEnergy the last three are industry-run insurance mechanisms. The fire caused production to be cut in half, and two employees were injured. More information on the refinery fires can be found at Guy Carpenter’s Instrat Cat-I reports.