NEWARK, CA --- By late Monday, Risk Management Solutions had lowered its insured loss estimates from Hurricane Gustav to between $4 billion and $10 billion in total, not including flood damage covered by federal insurance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

That total includes offshore damage to oil platforms and wells, as well as production interruptions caused by wind and waves, in a range between $1 billion to $3 billion, and onshore insured between $3 billion and $7 billion. Earlier, RMS had estimated that offshore losses could go as high as $7 billion, the newspaper reported.

In a released statement, Christine Ziehmann of RMS said: "Offshore damage was not as extensive as originally anticipated, as Gustav weakened from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 3 storm before blustering into the platforms. The platforms tend to be fairly resilient to Category 3 level winds, so the structural damage and impact on production will be relatively low."

Bob Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, said insured losses are "far from a worst-case scenario, and will be manageable from a financial and logistical perspective."