A reported attack on a Greek product tanker by Nigerian pirates has been dismissed as a false alarm.
Piracy reporting bodies had said that the 12,950-dwt New Ranger (built 2007) was attacked in the early hours of Tuesday morning while underway 160 nautical miles (296 km) south-west of Brass.
But security consultancy Ambrey said it had been told there was no incident.
Previous boardings of the Protank Management ship occurred on 5 and 6 December off Nigeria.
They were thwarted by crew mustering in the vessel's citadel.
The tanker was also involved in pirate attacks in 2011 and 2015 in West Africa.
Surge of attacks
There have been a surge of incidents in the past five weeks as weather improves in the region.
The threat to ships in the Gulf of Guinea high-risk area is rated as critical.
Dryad has said the pirate gangs are likely to become more desperate as attacks fail.
Protank Management was not available for further information.
On 4 December, criminals in a white speedboat approached Minerva Marine's 159,000-dwt tanker Minerva Evropi (built 2018) 205 nautical miles off Bayelsa in Nigeria.
They fired shots but the ship performed evasive manoeuvres to deter the attack, and the pirates gave up and left the area.
The waters off Nigeria are a key piracy hot spot. Of 10 piracy incidents reported by the International Maritime Bureau in December, five were off the coast of the West African country, not including the latest New Ranger incident.
