In Asia, the upstream market also remains decisively buyer-friendly, underpinned by another year of benign loss experience and insurers’ view of Asia as a core growth region. The lack of major upstream energy losses through 2025 has reinforced the region’s status as one of the strongest performing geographies within insurers’ upstream portfolios globally.
Singapore:Despite mounting loss activity, rising social inflation and geopolitical volatility, the energy insurance market remains deeply soft, with abundant capacity, intense competition and continued downward pressure on rates, according to the Energy Market Review published today by Willis, a WTW business.
Upstream capacity has reached record levels of over $10 billion with further growth expected from new market entrants and broker facilities. Loss activity, capital reallocation and macroeconomic volatility have the potential to stem the softening cycle in the immediate term.
However, there is no single structural catalyst in sight to drive a meaningful turn in pricing.
In Asia, the upstream market also remains decisively buyer-friendly, underpinned by another year of benign loss experience and insurers’ view of Asia as a core growth region. The lack of major upstream energy losses through 2025 has reinforced the region’s status as one of the strongest performing geographies within insurers’ upstream portfolios globally.
Insurers continue to view Asia as a core growth region for upstream energy, particularly for established operators with strong operational and risk management credentials.
Globally, the downstream market saw gross losses of $6.8 billion in 2025, with further deterioration from losses toward the end of 2025 and early 2026.
Despite the loss heavy backdrop, the market continues to attract new entrants, in both MGA platforms and traditional Lloyd’s markets, keeping high levels of capacity available and ongoing competition, even as losses escalate.
Despite these, the downstream energy insurance market in Asia remains firmly in buyers’ favour in early 2026, supported by abundant capacity, strong insurer appetite for growth and the continued absence of large losses in this region.
Competition is strongest for large, technically robust downstream programmes, particularly for well-engineered, loss-free refinery and petrochemical risks. Rate reductions are continuing, albeit at a more disciplined pace than mid-2025, and underwriting scrutiny has increased for energy companies with U.S.-exposed assets.
Charlotte Watts, Head of Energy and Mining, Asia, at Willis said: “The soft market is expected to persist through at least first half of this year in Asia. While insurers are increasingly conscious of rate adequacy and oversupply of capacity, ambitious growth targets are likely to cap any meaningful upward pricing pressure in the near term. Insurance buyers are well positioned to lock in competitive pricing and improved coverage terms, especially where local market participation or captives can be leveraged.”
Recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have inevitably heightened focus on exposures. It remains to be seen whether the ongoing conflict in the Middle East will generate any significant losses across the operational energy insurance market.
Rupert Mackenzie, Global Head of Natural Resources at Willis, said: “As 2026 progresses, the energy insurance market remains highly favourable for buyers. Deteriorating loss trends, whether from heavy downstream refinery losses, upstream construction tails or liability claims inflation have not yet driven corrective hardening.”
“Loss severity remains insufficient to counteract broader industry capital oversupply, arguably leaving pricing disconnected from underlying risk. With commodity price volatility potentially an ongoing issue in the coming quarter, we would urge buyers to review their business interruption declarations to ensure they can make a full recovery should an event occur,” said Rupert Mackenzie, Global Head of Natural Resources.