By reiterating the fact, that it has significant reinsurance protection in place to cover large claims, QBE Insurance Group has moved to tranquil investor concerns about its exposure to the BP oil rig upheaval.

Down about 15% since the beginning of April, the Company’s share price has been hammered over the last month, in part because some investors apprehend, its exposure to the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, may be huge.

The Company, in a statement, said that the market update it provided at the end of April on large individual risk and catastrophe claims incorporated its maximum net exposure to claims on policies exposed to the oil spill.

"QBE has significant external reinsurance protection in place for claims of this nature”, it said.

On April 28, the insurer said its estimated large risk and catastrophe claims net claims of $2.5 million and above, for the year to date were $470m, compared with an estimated net $430m for the same period last year.

Catastrophe claims this year have included the Transocean oil rig loss, Haiti earthquake, Chile earthquake, Melbourne hail storm, Iceland volcano travel claims, European windstorm Xynthia, Queensland cyclone Ului, Perth hail storm, Western Australia earthquake and US tornadoes.

QBE said it had a $1.28 billion allowance to cover claims of this nature, including reinsurance protection of $180m for claims above $1.1bn.

At the time, Chief Executive Frank O’Halloran said that despite the bizarre frequency of calamities for this year, QBE still had a significant allowance of about $810 million for the rest of this year.

QBE's shares were 2.31% higher this afternoon at $19.06.