Pirates take control of Saudi oil tanker - U.S. Navy

DUBAI (Reuters) - Pirates have taken control of a Saudi-owned oil supertanker off east Africa, the U.S. Navy said on Monday.

The Sirius Star is the first oil tanker to have been seized by pirates in the area. The huge vessel can hold up to two million barrels of crude oil.

"We don't have any reports of any damage to the ship," said Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet. "We are evaluating the situation," he said when asked whether the navy was taking action to rescue the tanker.

He was unable to say how much crude was on the ship.

The vessel has 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

The tanker was attacked 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, it said.

Pirates, often based in anarchic Somalia, have made shipping routes off east Africa among the most dangerous in the world.

The Saudi vessel had been headed for the United States via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The route is a main thoroughfare for fully laden supertankers from the Gulf, the world's biggest oil exporting region.

Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter, sending around 7 million barrels per day (bpd) to global markets.

The ship is Liberian-flagged, and owned and operated by state oil giant Saudi Aramco's shipping unit Vela International.