Operators face soaring bills

After the worst hurricane season on record, oil and gas operators in the US Gulf of Mexico could see insurance premiums triple next year, writes Jim Armitage

SOMETHING spooky happened at the London Stock Exchange this Halloween. One of the biggest insurers of offshore oil and gas platforms and pipelines at Lloyd's of London increased its estimated claims hit from Hurricane Katrina for the second time in three weeks. It told the stock market the hurricane season would cut this year's profits by £35m ($61.7m). Nothing weird in that, you say. But the spooky thing was that shares in Hiscox, rather than dropping stonelike in despair, rose. The reason? The bigger the insurance market's claims from this year's unprecedented hurricane season, the more they can justify increasing premiums for next year's renewals. Of course, the bigger the premiums, the g