U.S. oil major Chevron declared a force majeure on its Nigerian Escravos crude oil exports after armed youths blew up a supply pipeline last week, a company official said on Wednesday.
"There has been no impact on Chevron's offshore production and Escravos terminal is still operating," said spokeswoman Margaret Cooper.
"However, we have declared force majeure because production losses will result in delayed loadings of a few cargoes at the terminal."
The legal clause frees the U.S. company from its contractual obligations.
Armed youths on Thursday sabotaged Chevron's Abiteye-Olero crude pipeline in the Niger Delta, cutting about 120,000 barrels per day of crude output, according to the military.
Chevron has declined to say how much production was affected by the incident.
A wave of attacks in the West African country has cut production by a fifth since early 2006, helping push world oil prices to record highs.