According to a recent article in Business Insurance, risk management consulting firm Towers Watson & Co. estimates that commercially insured losses from the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico will be between $4 billion and $6 billion.   Nonetheless, Towers Watson notes that its estimate represents only a fraction of the overall economic loss suffered from the Gulf oil spill, which so far is estimated to be $35 billion.  To that end, the article reported that Towers Watson does not expect that Deepwater is a sufficiently significant event to turn the overall commercial insurance market.

Towers Watson further stated that the owner of the drilling rig, Transocean Ltd., has a total of $945 million of insurance coverage on it.  Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd.—which are part of a joint venture as operators of the well— have $163 million and $45 million in insurance coverage, respectively.   BP P.L.C., also a member of the joint venture, reportedly has no commercial liability insurance coverage but has its own captive insurer, Jupiter Insurance Ltd.  The total coverage limits for all involved is reported to be $3.3 billion, with the possibility that other companies may be drawn into litigation.