ExTool V5

Explosion is one of the primary causes of major accidents in the oil and petrochemical industries. These industries have high loss potential because they process and store large amounts of flammable materials or operate under extreme processing conditions. With the industries' installations growing bigger, more complex and integrated, the loss potential has increased exponentially. It is therefore critical for all stakeholders — risk engineers, insureds, re/insurers, brokers and authorities — to have a reliable view of the potential consequences of major explosion events.

Based on the long-established TNT explosion models and the trusted ExTool V4, ExTool V5 offers a simple yet highly flexible and transparent way of providing reliable loss estimates. Developed with a particular focus on technology enhancements, user friendliness and functionality expansion, the solution is particularly valuable for industries with high-risk exposure.

ExTool V5 simulates explosions in spaces made up of open steel structures, as well as tank fires and liquefied natural gas (LNG) spills.

ExTool V5 provides its users with transparent and easy-to-use models to assess potential damage associated with vapour cloud explosions (VCE), ruptures of high-pressure equipment (HPR) and tank fires. Combined with an insured's property value information, it can also yield explosion loss estimates in monetary terms.

ExTool V5 focuses on property damage estimation. It provides key information to:

• Assess the potential strength of an explosion
• Assess the severity of a tank fire
• Estimate evaporated mass from a refrigerated hydrocarbon spill, such as an LNG spill
• Draw sites or import drawings, with a distribution of their known monetary values, or estimated by ExTool
• Determine monetary losses caused by an explosion, and extrapolate the maximum possible loss (MPL) from those figures
• Visualise results in a variety of meaningful ways
• Provide flexible tools for event documentation

ExTool V5 is available as a web application (SaaS).  ExTool online is recommended for multiple users to maximise the benefits of value benchmarking, database functionalities and data sharing.

A company sought cover for its large steam cracker with a nameplate capacity of 680 kilotons per year. The total sum insured (TSI) for the whole plant was stated as USD 351 million. Unfortunately, it goes unnoticed that this reported value is no longer adequate and would lead to massive underinsurance of the installation.

The insurer was asked to estimate the maximum possible loss (MPL). While modelling the installation, the risk engineer noticed the surprisingly low TSI. Using ExTool V5, he then ran a valuation comparison between the site and other locations assessed previously. The benchmarking result suggested a much higher replacement cost of USD 600 million. The client was notified of the valuation gap and the risk of underinsurance, in turn, engaged a specialised valuation firm to reassess their plant's TSI. Following this adjustment, the insurance company could establish loss estimates for the site based on various scenarios.

With ExTool V5, risk engineers can build up a value database, creating a unique benchmark to identify undervalued properties and, subsequently, enabling clients to obtain more accurate risk views.

ExTool V5 is licensed under a per-user subscription model. Click here for pricing and product purchase.