GRi Business News 19-04-99

Seminar on oil and gas insurance opens

NTHC assesses damage in Dyson House fire

Accra (Greater Accra), 19th April 

Ghana has undertaken to broaden the scope of underwriting insurance in the oil and gas industry as a means of spreading the risk involved.

Mr Max Cobbina, Managing Director of Ghana Reinsurance Company, said the risk of underwriting insurance in oil and gas has been deemed to be enormous and the area is not known to many insurance companies. Mr Cobbina was speaking at a two-day insurance seminar for 17 insurance managers, underwriters and other players in the insurance industry in Accra on Monday. Topics being treated include how to underwrite risks associated with exploratory activities, oil and gas production risks and claims handling.

Mr Cobbina noted that underwriting of any kind differs from one discipline to the other saying the skill for insurance underwriting in the oil and gas industry is not well known in Ghana.

However, with increasing interest in the industry there is the need to make such knowledge available. Currently, only the State Insurance Company does underwriting in oil and gas.

Mr Cobbina said it is important to underwrite insurance policies that are acceptable in international circles, hence the need for such a seminar for participants to acquire knowledge in the area. "In the past, policy on oil and gas was underwritten from outside the country. It is now necessary with the increasing activity in oil and gas exploration in Ghana and the West African belt to acquire skills in this area."

Mr Daniel Adu Mensah, Managing Director of Metropolitan Insurance Company, said with the recent power crisis, Ghana has set its mind on finding alternative sources of power. "This involves dealing with complex risks and expertise which insurers realise is in short supply ... hence Ghana Reinsurance Company has taken the lead to expose insurance practitioners in the market to these complex risks associated with oil and gas insurance."

Accra (Greater Accra), 19th April 

The management of NTHC Limited, (formerly National Trust Holding Company Limited ), a licensed broker of the Ghana Stock Exchange, on Monday assured its clients that their investments are safe despite a fire that gutted their Dyson House offices, near the former Farisco Supermarket, in Accra, on Saturday.

Mr Kwamena Amponsah-Dadzie, Head of Operations, said business was still going on as usual and they were trading at the stock exchange on Monday morning. The fire which was caused by lightning, completely destroyed the building and affected other offices, including BKB Courier Ghana Limited and PAO Andahs and Associates, tax and management consultants. Property worth millions of cedis, including computers and documents, were destroyed.

Mr Amposah-Dadzie explained that the company kept back copies of information and data in another office at Martco House, situated behind the Trust Bank, saying =93our clients need not fear about their investments=94.

He said assessment of damage is still going on and no immediate figures can be given since their insurers, the State Insurance Company, is handling that.

He said the management of the company have informed their major business partners which include the Social Security Bank, Standard Charted Bank, Fan Milk Limited, Aluworks and the Pioneer Aluminium Factory who had all called on them at their offices.

Steps have also been taken to inform other regulatory bodies such as the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Securities Regulatory Commission.