Japanese oil giant’s captive rated ‘excellent’

Inpex Insurance (IIL), the single parent captive of Inpex Corp, Japan’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company, has received a financial strength rating of ‘A-' (excellent) from AM Best.

The captive was licensed in 2008 and has also been assigned an ‘a-‘ issuer credit rating.

“IIL's five-year average underwriting results remain favourable, although highly volatile due to claims characterised as low frequency and high severity,” the report said.

AM Best added that IIL also contributes valuable loss and claims data to Inpex’s wider risk management structure and is strongly supported by its corporate parent.

“Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is IIL's significant reinsurance credit risk stemming from the large size of gross risks relative to its low retention level. However, this is mitigated to some extent by IIL's reinsurance panel, which has a strong credit profile.”