Six Declines. One Market. International Operations.

A petroleum engineering consultancy came to us for Professional Indemnity cover. The business provided oil and gas pipeline consultancy, advice on extraction processes, and staff training - delivered entirely to clients overseas. There was no Australian project work.

The operations spanned several countries across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America. Each region brought its own complications for underwriters, both in terms of legal exposure and country risk.

On paper, a modest-sized consultancy. In practice, the occupation profile and geographic footprint put it well outside what most Australian PI markets will accept.

We took the risk to market across the specialist PI panel - underwriters who write engineering professional indemnity and engage with occupations outside the standard consulting categories.

Six insurers reviewed the submission. All six declined on occupation grounds. None requested further information on revenue, claims history, or project complexity - the occupation type and international exposure were sufficient for each to exit without further engagement.

One specialist underwriter, focused on hard-to-place professional risks, was willing to engage and provided the only terms available in the market.

Petroleum engineering advice on active oil and gas operations sits in a different risk category to most professional consulting work. When a consultant advises on extraction processes or trains staff working on live hydrocarbon infrastructure, the causation line between that advice and a potential incident is short and direct. Most PI underwriters aren't comfortable writing that exposure.

The international footprint made it harder again. Operations across politically complex and operationally active regions carry elevated risk that domestic insurers price heavily - or decline outright. The combination of the occupation and the geography created a profile that most of the standard market won't touch, regardless of the consultant's experience or claims history.

The training component adds a separate layer. If something goes wrong following advice or training delivered on live operations, the professional liability path leads straight back to the consultant's PI policy. That's exactly the kind of exposure many underwriters would rather leave uninsured than write.