Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said its Nigerian unit shut 90,000 barrels a day of crude production after a pipeline was breached last week.

``Approximately 90,000 barrels a day of joint venture total production has been shut in as a result of the incident,'' company spokesman Scott Walker said in an e-mailed statement. The pipeline was ruptured on Nov. 14.

The explorer pumped a total of 353,000 barrels of oil a day last year in Nigeria, of which 129,000 barrels was net to Chevron, according to the company's Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski in London at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 18, 2008 08:11 EST