Gunmen in speedboats attacked a tanker loaded with 4,000 tonnes of diesel off the coast of Nigeria today.
The pirates kidnapped a Romanian crew member and badly damaged the MT Meredith, security sources said.
The sources said the vessel was attacked at the Bonny Fairway Buoy off the oil-producing Niger Delta, a route regularly used by oil services vessels. The tanker was believed to be travelling from Lagos to the main oil city of Port Harcourt.
The joint military taskforce responsible for policing the Niger Delta could not immediately be reached.
"The ship called for assistance as its engine and superstructure were reported to have been seriously damaged," one of the security sources said.
The attack is the latest in a series of acts of piracy off the volatile Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry. Insecurity in the region has cut Nigeria's oil output by a fifth in recent years.
Over the weekend, gunmen attacked an oil tanker and an oil services vessel at the Bonny crude loading platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell's joint venture with state oil firm NNPC. Several Nigerian crew members were seized.
Reuters
