yesterday reported that it bounced back into profit in 1993.

OCIL, a mutual owned by petroleum companies and formed in 1986 to protect the industry against catastrophic liability losses, reported earnings of $5.51 million compared to a $4.53 million loss in 1992.

Like affiliate Oil Insurance Ltd., OCIL restated its 1992 results to cover accounting changes required by United States authorities.

The company's results were aided by the fact there no new losses reported by shareholders during the year. As a result, losses and loss expenses were reduced from $33.9 million to $5.5 million.

"There were no new losses reported other than a general increase to the IBNR (Incurred But Not Reported) reserve,'' the company said. "OCIL has experienced three large losses in seven and a half years of existence. The financial impact of these losses has all been recorded in the prior three years which has dampened growth over that period.

"All of those losses have now been fully paid. It should be recognised that OCIL will experience large losses from time to time. We must plan for volatile results to ensure that the company has sufficient resources to meet any reasonable loss expectation.'' Earned premiums fell from $43.2 million to $32 million while reinsurance premiums ceded increased from $11.9 million to $19.9 million resulting in net premiums earned of $12 million compared to $31.4 million.

Mr. Jon King, senior vice president of OCIL, said the changes in reinsurance were due mainly to changes in the company's reinsurance policies.

Capital and surplus increased by a record $40.6 million from $204.3 million to $244.9 million in the year while total assets increased from $307.7 million to $337,2 million, partly because of a $34.9 million increase in the assets of wholly owned investment subsidiary Oil Casualty Investment Corporation Ltd.

Mr. King said the company's investment performance in the last two years had been "exceptional''.