Oil and natural gas companies are increasingly considering using hurricane derivatives contracts – on top of the usual ‘business-interruption’ insurance – following the damage done to oil rigs and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricane Katrina.

The late-August storm wreaked massive damage on the US Gulf Coast, which produces around a third of the US’s supply of oil and natural gas. Nine refineries were out of action for several days, accounting for the bulk of the region’s supply. And