Berkley Oil & Gas Insurance Review & Complaints: Commercial Insurance (2023)

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Berkley Oil & Gas Specialty Services is a commercial insurance company focused on the needs of the energy industry. Their specialty products are available in all 50 states and cover offshore operations as well.

About W. R. Berkley Oil & Gas

Berkley Oil & Gas is a subsidiary of W. R. Berkley Corporation, which has been in business since 1967 and provides commercial insurance across a variety of industries. The multiple subsidiaries of the company diversify their coverage into a variety of niche industries including aviation, liquor liability, and commercial auto liability.

Created in 2009, Berkley Oil & Gas provides specialty insurance products to companies in the energy sector, particularly oil and gas industry as the name indicates. The subsidiary has its headquarters in Houston, Texas, conveniently located to a large portion of the nation’s oil industry.

Commercial package policies and individual products are available in all 50 states and are sold through a specific brokerage, J.H. Blades/Swett. Other independent agents may sell products in partnership with this brokerage.

Berkley Oil & Gas Products

All of the company’s products are specific to the industry they serve, although on the basic level they are similar to what is offered by most commercial insurance companies.

Commercial Auto is available to cover a variety of fleet sizes and vehicle types for liability and damage. Non-owned, leased, and hired vehicle coverage is also available.

General Liability and Commercial Umbrella policies are available to protect against liability risks including those specific to the industry, such as pollution risks and supplementary control of well.

Berkley Oil & Gas offers a specific Control of Well insurance policy that protects the company from the effects of an out of control well. This coverage applies to both onshore and offshore wells.

Inland Marine and Property coverage provides protection for equipment and property of the company, including tanks, pumps, and pipes, drills, site prep equipment, and fracking equipment, all of which are specific to the oil and gas industries.

Worker’s Compensation coverage is also available.

Rates

This company’s products are very specific, and rates are calculated using a wide variety of factors. It is not at all surprising that rate information and online quoting are not offered.

Rates can be obtained by speaking with an agent or broker to gather the required quoting information. Since these products are so very specific, it is difficult to provide any sort of rate comparison or value judgement.

Claims

Berkley Oil & Gas claims can be reported 24/7 via a variety of options. There is an online claim reporting from, a toll-free claims line, and an email address in addition to the option to send in claim information by fax or regular mail.

Virtual claims kits for worker’s compensation policies are available online based on the state in which the policy is in force.

Because claims for this sort of policy can be complex, there is not a lot of detail on the process found on the website. They do make it easy, however, to get in contact and promise to handle all claims quickly.

Ratings and Consumer Reviews

Berkley Oil & Gas does not appear to have a Better Business Bureau (BBB) page, this has not changed from the time of our last review.

They do have six Google reviews with a 4.3-star rating overall. Only one review is negative, the rest are all five stars. The negative review is the only one with any detail to it and describes difficulty with obtaining a claim check.

We are not at all surprised that reviews for this company are minimal, given the very specific niche in which they operate. Commercial insurance companies focused on one sector tend to have little in the way of complaints and comments, in part because word of mouth is a more common method of gathering information, and in part because companies handle problems with their insurance companies through other channels.

The Bottom Line

Berkley Oil & Gas is a specialty company providing products to an industry where the options for insurance are more limited than with other commercial needs. It is difficult to judge such niche products, but we can say that we found no red flags or concerns when it comes to this company’s reputation.