While the financial crisis coupled with a fall in the costs of oil and gas has seen a sharp drop downturn in offshore rig utilisation rates in all exploration and production areas of the world, claims are still on the rise according to the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI).

The Union’s facts and figures committee has issued its provisional figure for last year which reveals that the worldwide utilisation rate stood at 75% in 2009, down from 84% in 2008. The Gulf of Mexico rate was 49%, against 75%. For the rest of the world the rate was 79%, down from 87%.

Rig day rates continued to climb in 2009, to in excess of $350,000 on a worldwide basis, but only for drill ships and semi-submersibles. Day rates for jack-ups declined in all areas, reflecting that robust exploration activity continues in deepwater regions. Drill ships and semi-submersibles are designed for this, whereas jack-ups are limited to water depths of 450 ft or less.

Worryingly for the underwriters the number of attritional claims over $1m fell in 2009, but total claims costs were spiked significantly because of the large loss attaching to the West Atlas incident in the Timor Sea. It is estimated that losses of mobiles in 2009 could hit approximately $800m.

IUMI added: “The average claim cost, not including West Atlas, was slightly higher in 2009, continuing an upward trend since 2005. The reason is the continued increase in the cost of labour and materials due to hurricanes and greater activity overall in the oil patch, up until the economic downturn. Given the upward trend in the average claims cost, it is apparent that deductibles are not keeping up with claims inflation.”

Total claims over $1m for platforms and pipelines are estimated to be around $850m, largely due to the loss of a platform in the North Sea.

The size of the world fleet increased again in 2009 to just over 700 units of all types, although the offshore rig count in the Gulf of Mexico has been falling since 2002. Contracted rig numbers fell slightly in 2009 to approximately 550 rigs under contract.

However, IUMI said the surge of commissioned newbuilds continued; there were 55 new rig deliveries, up from 41 in 2008. And there are 65 newbuilds scheduled for delivery this year, but then the number drops off significantly.