The product tanker Energy Centurion with 24 Russian crew members was hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea. The vessel was headed to Lome, Togo, when armed pirates attacked it and open fire to the tanker. All the crew was reported to be in good health, but the position of the vessel is unknown. The product tanker Energy Centurion was loaded with 50,000 tons of gasoil and most probably the vessel was attacked for cargo stealing. The pirates attacks in the Western Africa and the Gulf of Guinea became more frequent, as a few days ago another product tanker was hijacked and released after 5 days. Usually the pirates are interested only with cargo stealing and attack product tankers and chemical tankers in the region, as they have low free board and low speed. The navy presence in the Gulf of Guinea is quite smalled than in Eastern Africa, which makes pirates to be bolder and to attack larger ships.
The product tanker Energy Centurion (IMO: 9387970) has length of 228.00 m, beam of 32.00 m and maximum draft of 8.50 m. The summer deadweight of the vessel is 74,995 DWT and the gross tonnage is 42,296 GRT. The ship was built in 2008 in the South Korean shipyard of Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. The owner and operator of the product tanker Energy Centurion is the Greek company Golden Energy Management.