Many companies are facing Hurricane Bill and the forthcoming hurricane season with little or no windstorm insurance, according to industry experts.

Bruce Jefferis, global CEO of Aon Energy, said that while Hurricane Bill might not have much impact on firms with operations in the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore locations in North America, many companies did not have coverage in the event of further storms striking their oil rigs or platforms.

But he added that many firms had already started taking steps to improve their disaster recovery plans to minimise potential loss of revenue or business interruption.

"Just looking at some of the maps this morning, it appears it is going to go between Bermuda and the eastern sideboard of the US," said Mr. Jefferis of Hurricane Bill in an interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"Most of the storms that we have been concerned about have been approaching further westwards.

"So I do not think it is probably going to be that much of a factor."

Mr. Jefferis said he was more focused on the storms following Hurricane Bill and what effect they could have if they make a path for the Gulf of Mexico or the oil and gas fields off the coast of Canada.

He said, from experience, last year most of the bigger companies did not buy windstorm insurance, while smaller firms purchased some coverage, but at a high premium, however medium-sized entities could afford retain a fair amount of risk.

This spring between March and June 1, Mr. Jefferis said, a number of firms had chosen to renew their policies or get new coverage, with an estimate that less than 10 percent of big companies with large assets had bought windstorm insurance, whereas 50 percent of smaller-sized properties in water less than 300 feet deep were covered, albeit partially, totalling an average of less than $100 million.

He said premiums had risen sharply following Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike last year and it would be interesting to see whether insurers reduced their rates with many companies finding them too expensive.

Mr. Jefferis said firms were concentrating on disaster recovery plans to ensure personnel safety, as well as starting to remove and strip down old platforms and equipment, and plug wells that have ceased to be productive to avoid having to pay out big sums to repair them in the event of storm damage.

But he said it was hard to foresee what might happen in the upcoming hurricane season and that each storm was a completely random event.

"The main thing for us is, let's say a storm does not come in this year at all, we will just need to reassess the situation after the season in one way or another," he said.

"I think the whole insurance business has changed dramatically over the past year and we will have to see whether the market shrinks and customers do not buy insurance.

"It will be interesting to see what happens."