"Africa Oil

" \n Three years ago, brothers James and Hugo Hill identified a growing demand for complex insurance products required by energy companies and other \u2018Special Risk\u2019 businesses in Africa, a continent historically underserved by international insurers located thousands of miles from the projects they were underwriting. TRM Risk Management (TRM) \u00a0is a pan-African risk advisory business that specializes in advising energy clients and placing insurance policies for the largest and most complex risks on the continent. The Hills\u2019 25 years of combined insurance Broking & Underwriting experience in London, Singapore and South Africa brings a uniquely broad range of solutions to even the most complex of risks. Since its inception in 2017, the company has specialized in advising on operational and energy construction risks for state-owned utilities, private power producers and independent E&P companies in over 15 African countries, with the energy sector comprising 70% of its business (the other 30% comes from other \u2018special risk\u2019 lines, including marine and aviation). \u201cTRM is an independent, client-first organization and we are simplifying the Insurance buying process for customers in Africa. Our values are aligned to our clients\u2019 values and we use our deep-rooted knowledge of Africa and the international broking community, along with our own relationships with underwriters, to make sure our clients get the best possible access to the market.\" \"Our risk advisory model is tried and tested over the last three years, and this is why we have grown so quickly as an organization, as clients are viewing us as Africa\u2019s premier risk advisor. The more we grow as an organization, the more we can leverage our portfolio for our customers,\u201d says James Hill, Chief Operating Officer, speaking to a portfolio that now exceeds $100 million in insurance premiums. \u201cWe have a growing portfolio of oil, gas and power business. From our experience of mitigating clients\u2019 exposures across the entire energy value chain, we are able to identify the right broking partner for any given risk, to the benefit of our customers\u201d adds Hugo Hill, Managing Director. While TRM maintains its focus on West African markets \u2013 Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon, to name a few \u2013 the Central, East and Southern African regions have become a growing priority for the firm in the last 18 months. Earlier this year, emerging natural gas producer\u00a0 Renergen approached TRM to handle insurances for its Virginia gas project \u2013 the first project of its kind in South Africa to produce helium and liquefied natural gas locally for domestic use. While the existing domestic insurance market was not familiar with exposures typically generated by upstream oil and gas risk, TRM was able to provide bespoke Marine Cargo, Delay in Start-Up, Construction and Professional Indemnity insurance solutions, utilizing its prior experience handling insurances in African oil and gas-producing countries. \u201cTRM has a wealth of experience in providing energy construction insurance in Africa, as well as operational insurance,\u201d says Nick Mitchell, Renergen\u2019s Chief Operating Officer. In the midst of an international brokering community that is seeing increasingly frequent mergers and acquisitions, TRM stands apart from the crowd with a fiercely independent, client-focused approach \u2013 analyzing broker performance across each business line and handpicking brokers for each specific risk. \u201cWe have witnessed increased levels of M&A activity amongst the insurance brokers and we expect to see further consolidation. What has become apparent during periods of merger activity is that the brokers become more focused on the reshuffling of their own organizations as opposed to spending time concentrating on clients,\u201d says James Hill. \u201cThis has worked out well for us as we remain totally independent, sitting firmly on the side of the client at all times, with our attention firmly fixed on the client\u2019s needs.\u201d In Nigeria, leading independent\u00a0 Atlas Petroleum \u00a0solicited the help of TRM to assess whether its current African Insurance program was fit for purpose given the company\u2019s exposure. Atlas\/Oranto is Nigeria\u2019s largest privately held, Africa-focused exploration and production group. Atlas International and its sister company Oranto Petroleum have an extensive footprint across the African continent, holding 22 oil and gas licenses in 23 jurisdictions. \u201cTRM assisted in providing a more cost effective and bespoke energy package solution for our Nigerian client, which fully complied with Nigerian local content regulation \u2013 broader cover at lower cost,\u201d said Sebastian Wagner, Chief Executive Officer of DMWA Resources. \u201c Insurance commentators are suggesting that the COVID-19 impact will be a $100 billion event for the insurance industry,\u201d says James Hill. \u201cWhat we have, in effect, is the perfect storm, where the market was already bottoming out on rates and starting to enter a hardening state with rates increasing. COVID-19 has caused an acceleration and amplification of the rate corrections and we are seeing significant rate increases across the entire market.\" \"Some customers are being hit worse than others depending on in which sector the risk falls. For example, upstream rates are not as severe (yet), but the market may only require one more big loss before that market follows the downstream market, which is seeing significant rate increases of over 20%.\u201d \u201cWe, in conjunction with our broking partners, access insurers globally \u2013 whether it is Lloyd\u2019s of London, the Middle East or Asia, as long as there is an appetite for African energy risks,\u201d says Hugo Hill. \u201cWe believe now more than ever it is vital for any customer in Africa to ensure that they are accessing the global market to trigger as much competition amongst insurers as possible.\u201d \u201cWherever we can involve and support local African or regional insurers, we do,\u201d says James Hill. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s the international underwriters who will have larger capacities, but those underwriters on the ground in Africa have a better understanding of the risk \u2013 we blend local and international expertise to deliver optimum solutions for our clients.\u201d \u2018\u2019Local content development has an important role to play in Africa, especially with regards to capacity building. The best example of this is Nigeria, where the Nigerians have fought hard to develop a strong and robust local insurance market, particularly in the oil and gas arena,\u201d says Hugo Hill. \u201cInsurance companies in-territory are closer to their clients than international insurers and often have a better understanding of the associated risks. It will be great if the new and emerging oil and gas markets in Africa can follow suit.\u201d While the global insurance market continues to correct, TRM remains optimistic in its long-term outlook for the African insurance sector \u2013 an industry closely linked with economic growth, operating on a continent home to the fastest-growing economies globally. \n "

"Africa Oil

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