Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. yesterday estimated that claims from the Chile earthquake could cost it as much as $110 million.

The company also said that its net losses from windstorm Xynthia, which afflicted several parts of western Europe with hurricane-force winds, and massive storm surges, would be less than $5 million.

The company's exposure to the Australian hailstorms and floods would be "negligible", Aspen added in its statement.

Bermuda-based insurers have now announced estimated catastrophe losses of up to $2.4 billion for the first quarter.

Aspen said its preliminary loss estimate for the Chilean earthquake was in the range of $70 million to $110 million, net of tax and reinstatement premiums.

This loss is virtually all derived from Aspen's reinsurance operations with the Company's insurance business accounting for less than $0.5 million.

The company said its reinsurance exposure to this event mainly arises from the company's international clients with worldwide operations, which include Chile.

All losses related to Xynthia will come through Aspen's reinsurance operation.

"We are deeply saddened by the tremendous human and economic losses caused by these natural catastrophes and are entirely committed to supporting our clients as they recover from the devastation," Aspen chief executive officer Chris O'Kane said.

"Aspen's diversified portfolio of insurance and reinsurance products responded as we had expected for events such as the Chilean earthquake, Windstorm Xynthia and the Australian hailstorms. This demonstrates the strength of our risk management framework and robust underwriting standards."

Aspen said it had received only a very limited number of definitive loss notifications from its reinsurance clients.

The company added that its initial investigation suggested that total industry losses from the Chilean earthquake will be in the region of $5 billion to $8 billion.

Aspen estimates that Windstorm Xynthia may result in a loss to the industry ranging from 1.25 billion euros to 2.5 billion euros.

Aspen's company specific loss estimates are not developed solely on market losses and therefore would not change in direct correlation with any future increases or decreases to industry losses.