Schlumberger captives given clean bill of health

Schlumberger’s captives remain strong with a stable outlook, according to AM Best.

The rating agency has affirmed its financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit ratings of “a+” (Excellent) for both the oilfield services group’s Bermuda-domiciled captives:  Castle Harbour Insurance Limited and Harrington Sound Insurance Limited.

It also gave a stable outlook for both credit ratings.

“The ratings of Castle Harbour and Harrington reflect their balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as their strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management,” it said.

“The ratings recognise that Castle Harbour and Harrington maintain the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s capital adequacy ratio, as well as their strong operating performance metrics over each of the past five years.”

While the captives carry relatively large limits on their general liability and property lines coverages for Schlumberger, each writes a broad scope of business with considerable geographic diversification, Best noted.

“As captive insurers of Schlumberger, the companies benefit from, and are an integral part of, the parent’s ERM [enterprise risk management] framework, which includes defined risk controls and optimisation of the captives’ capital,” it added.