07.50-09.00

Registration and Coffee in Live Oak C & D

PLENARY: Live Oak A & B

08.55-09.00

Welcome Address: Daniel Creasey, Managing Director, Cannon Events

09.00-09.30

Keynote Address: State of the Insurance Market – A Post-Mortem of 2022

Inflation was considered a big threat as we launched into 2022, so this session will explore what really happened with rates and claims numbers through the year. We will analyze the latest statistics to gain a realistic picture of what the numbers are.

Presenter: Matthew Begnaud, US Upstream Energy Leader, Marsh

09.30 10.20

Panel Discussion: What on Earth is the World up to Next?

Geopolitics has always played a pivotal role in the development and supply of energy around the world. Europe dodged an enormous bullet this winter due to warmer than normal average temperatures. Has this made Europe more complacent in terms of preparing for life without Russian oil? How might a cold winter in Europe change energy markets and risks in the winter of 2023/24? What LNG supplies are being introduced from the US in the coming months/quarters? Is supply growing to match demand, and what are the challenges for growth, both in terms of production and distribution? What are the important US projects supporting this growing market? What are the risks?  

Moderator: Reece Rondon, Shareholder, Hall Maines Lugrin

Panelists: Christopher Guith, Senior Vice President, US Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute

Jim Krane, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University

Jason Feer, Head of Business Intelligence, Poten Partners/BGC Partners

Ed Tockman, Senior Vice President Consulting, Rystad Energy

10.20-10.50

Coffee and Networking in Live Oak C & D

10.50-11.20

Fireside Chat: Re-Insuring the Market in 2023, and Beyond

This session will look at what happened during the last set of renewals. Our experts will reveal whether the insurance market faced rate hikes, freezes or declines, and what they are predicting going forward. They will also explore whether the risks are changing, and how that is changing insurer appetite.

Participants: Gerry Fahrenthold, Senior Vice President, Scor

Rebekka Haenle, Senior Managing Director – Facultative Property IR, Reinsurance Solutions, AON

11.20-12.10

Panel Discussion: ESG – A Case of the Emperor’s New Clothes?

We all know now that ESG stands for Environment, Social, Governance, but what does that mean in practice, and how is it being interpreted across the energy sector? Is this a case of all talk and no substance, or is there a real change in the energy sector? ESG has driven investment capital toward the renewable sectors in an attempt to spur growth and innovation. Where has this had a positive impact, and where has this resulted in potential inefficiencies and distortions, which are not sustainable over the longer term? What are the risks and challenges for insurance in managing this?

Moderator: Ed Tockman, Senior Vice President Consulting, Rystad Energy

Panelists: Steven Weiss, Consultant, Steven P Weiss Consulting LLC

Patty Errico, Partner, Global Commercial Lead, Corporate Governance and ESG Advisory, Aon

Charles Honner, Managing Director, SteegeXP

12.10-13.10

Lunch in Live Oak C & D

STREAM I: Live Oak A

STREAM II: Live Oak B

13.10-13.55

Workshop: Managing Weather Risk for Renewables Projects

Workshop: Volatility in the Claims Market

In light of recent large losses from weather-related events, notably wind and hail losses on solar sites, and ongoing lightning damage to wind turbine blades, this session will discuss approaches to the management of weather-related risk on utility scale renewables projects. It will address the assessment of wind, hail, and lightning risk during the site selection, construction, and operational stages of the project, some of the difficulties in obtaining reliable weather data at remote sites, and how this can be overcome. It will also review common damage patterns, and suggest ways to minimize further losses.

Volatility in the energy insurance claims market is nothing new. The most recent contributors include the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, inflation, supply chain issues, and environmental concerns. These factors have created increased shipping costs and fuel, energy, and labor shortages. Moreover, the increased demand for electric vehicles has brought a greater need for critical minerals. In this workshop we will discuss the potential volatility that new Critical Mineral Strategies will bring, as well as other factors that have had the most significant impact on recent claims and the challenges they presented for insurers and their clients.

Presenter: Roderick Rennison, Vice President, Rimkus

Presenters: Brad Ebel, Partner/President, MDD Forensic Accountants

Jessica Feola, Senior Manager (Miami), MDD Forensic Accountants

Karl Ehlert, Partner (Los Angeles), MDD Forensic Accountants

13.55-14.20

Presentation: The Insurance Market – Renewables 2023

Fireside Chat: Latin America – The Next Big Thing?

A year ago, when the US government announced its plans to boost the renewables sector, one concern was that the insurance market simply did not have sufficient capacity of experience locally to support such plans. In this session, we provide an update on the state of the market and see whether some of those concerns have been successfully addressed.

As Brazil welcomes in a new government, the opportunities for a revitalized oil and gas industry are emerging. The country sits on the second largest untapped oil and gas deposits, so in this session, we discuss the opportunities and challenges in developing this market.

Presenter: Kris Williams, Underwriter Renewable Energy, AXIS

Participants: Manuel Tarantino, Head of Offshore and EGA, Charles Taylor

Alex Guillamont, Partner, Kennedys Law

14.20-15.10

Panel Discussion: Main Risks to the US Offshore Wind Market

14.20- 14.45 Presentation: Sanctions – Challenges of Maintaining Compliance

How can the US market ensure that lessons are learnt from Asia and Europe? What dynamics are similar and different in the US? How are energy companies, brokers, insurers and their suppliers managing these challenges? This session will look at some of these additional concerns such as, the Jones Act, grid transmission and distribution, and natural catastrophes.

Sanctions have been changing almost daily in the past year and the speed of those changes has caused issues for some companies. In this session, an expert in the field looks at how compliant companies can suddenly fall foul of the rules. We’ll discuss some recent examples wherein lawful businesses unexpectedly found themselves being investigated, and in some circumstances, pursued by law enforcement for suspected breach(es) of sanctions regimes.

Presenter: George M. Chalos, Founder, Chalos & Co, P.C. – International Law Firm

14.45-15.10 Presentation: Opportunities and Challenges from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

This historic legislative act fosters a new era of favorable policy and investment stimulus for the renewable energy industry. With this comes the advent of impactful technologies and unique risks in this evolving regulatory and economic environment. In this session, we’ll propose risk solutions to support the engineered risks for carbon capture and storge technologies, along with its significant relationship to US tax codes (i.e 45Q) that monetize the carbon credits, as well as the threat of recapture risk.

Moderator: Corey Greenwald, Partner, Clyde & Co US LLP

Panelists: Lionel Kpoze, Senior Underwriter Onshore Construction – Offshore Wind, Scor

Eileen Miller, Senior Project Risk Advisor Natural Resources – Renewable Energy and Power Team, Aon

Frank J. Gonynor, Senior Claims Adviser/Lawyer, Gard (North America) Inc.

Geoff McMullen, Risk Manager, TotalEnergies

Presenter: George Schulz, Managing Director – Program Development, New Energy Risk

15.10-15.40

Coffee and Networking in Live Oak C & D

STREAM I: Live Oak A

STREAM II: Live Oak B

15.40-16.25

Panel Discussion: The Claims Experience – Onshore Renewables

New Opportunity Session: Carbon Capture – Revitalizing the Oil and Gas Sector

The buzz around using renewable sources for fuel has been growing through the past decade. But in all the excitement, has the market lost sight of the true cost of switching to renewable fuels from a claims perspective? This session will explore the trends in claims and the dearth of experienced leaders in the market, as well as the true cost to the market. 

With a huge statutory, regulatory and industry focus on carbon capture, transportation and subsea storage in the US Gulf of Mexico, the offshore energy service sector is being revitalized. This session will explore this amazing period of realignment for the offshore energy sector that will likely generate a great deal of activity, interest and investment. However, none of this activity and investment can effectively move forward without sufficient, and adaptable, insurance coverage. The question is whether the market has the appetite and understanding of this new opportunity.

Moderator: German Torres, Underwriter, Renewable Energy, AXIS

Panelists: Roderick Rennison, Vice President, Rimkus

Matthew Senn, Senior Project Engineer Lead – Renewable Energy, Envista Forensics

Darren Askari, North American Claims Manager, GCube

Lynette Wachuku, Senior Vice President, Energy and Power Claims Advocate, Marsh

Facilitator: Bobby Galindo, Director, Technical and Engineered Risk; National Energy Loss Control Leader, IMA Corp

Participants: Glenn Legge, Senior Consultant, Endeavor Management

Reed Wykes, Director, Risk and Insurance Management, Hilcorp Energy Company

16.25-17.10

Deep Dive Discussion: The Claims Experience – Offshore Wind Cable Losses

Panel Discussion: The Claims Experience – Oil and Gas

Wind turbine losses have been mounting up in Europe and Asia, with cable problems accounting for some 75% of losses. In this session, we take a deep-dive into the technical reasons why so many of these claims are materializing, while also considering the supply chain difficulties that are adding to the claims’ bills.

Whether it is upstream or downstream, onshore or offshore, there are claims hitting the desks of insurers on an almost daily basis. The cost of claims comes not just in terms of dollars, but also in terms of time. This session will compare the different claims experience across the breadth of the oil and gas sector to identify common issues, as well as the problem of well-seasoned experts leaving the market.

Moderator: Manny Morrell, Director Renewable Energy, OCI-USA

Panelists: Matthew Yau, Director, Lloyd Warwick

Szen Ong, Engineer Adjuster, Integra Technical

Moderator: Brad Ebel, Partner/President, MDD Forensic Accountants

Panelists: Richard Blades, Managing Director, Marsh USA Inc.

Gary Mawditt, Chief Executive Officer and Global Head of Upstream Claims, MatthewsDaniel

Brad Nehring, Director, Energy, RB Jones

Jacob Gruwell, Vice President – Insurance and Risk Management, Kinder Morgan, Inc

17.15-18.30

Drinks Reception in Live Oak C & D