LAGOS (AFP) – Pirates stormed and ransacked a French vessel Saturday in Nigeria's restive oil-rich south but there were no casualties, a company spokeswoman said.

The ship owned by the Bourbon group was stormed around 0900 GMT south of the Niger Delta, Christa Roqueblave told AFP.
""The pirates stormed aboard and stole things and equipment but there were no human problems, no wounded,"" she said.
The vessel has a 17-member French and Nigerian crew.
Bourbon runs anchor handling ships in Nigeria. In early August two French employees of the company were kidnapped by armed gunmen near the oil capital of Port Harcourt but were released about a month later.
Since the beginning of 2006, militant attacks have cut Nigeria's oil output by more than one quarter. Production currently veers between 1.8 and two million barrels a day against 2.6 million barrels a day two years ago.