By Dan Molinski
BOGOTA--Leftist rebels allegedly used dynamite to blow up a
section of Colombia's second-longest oil pipeline, the Cano Limon,
marking the third bombing of the pipeline since the year began.
An official at Colombia's national oil company, Ecopetrol (EC),
which owns and operates the pipeline, said the attack occurred late
Tuesday near the town of Saravena, across the border from
Venezuela. The pipeline is used by California-based Occidental
Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and Ecopetrol to send about 70,000 barrels a
day from their Cano Limon field to a shipping port on the Atlantic
coast.
The Ecopetrol official said the pipeline will remain closed
until repairs can be completed.
The Cano Limon pipeline was also bombed Jan. 3 and 8. In those
two cases, Colombia's armed forces blamed the attacks on the
country's second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army,
or ELN.
Leftist rebels have also been blamed for two bombings earlier
this week of smaller oil pipelines in the south, and attacks on two
oil tanker trucks in which the trucks were set ablaze.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@dowjones.com