A Nigerian oil worker was killed and another injured on Tuesday in an armed attack on a supply ship operated by a U Edison Chouest Offshore, Reuters reported.
"Armed men came alongside the vessel at 0300 hours (O200 GMT) and got on board to look for things to take. They executed one of the crew when they didn't find anything," an unnamed source told the news agency.
The supply ship was operated by Edison Chouest Offshore, a Louisiana-based oil services company, a security source said. The ship was working on an oilfield about three miles offshore operated by U.S. energy giant Chevron, but officials from the California-based company were also unavailable to comment.
The field is part of the Escravos oil export system, which normally exports about 160,000 barrels of oil per day.
It is located in the western delta, where a series of attacks and kidnappings earlier this year forced Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate hundreds of workers and reduce output by 477,000 barrels per day.
Oil workers across Nigeria are due to stop work for three days from Wednesday to protest growing insecurity in the delta, after the killing of another Nigerian oil worker last month.
Violence in the Niger Delta, home of Africa's biggest oil industry, has been a problem for over a decade. Many in the vast wetlands region resent the oil industry which provides the bulk of Nigeria's wealth but has brought few benefits to them. (Source: Reuters)