Twin explosions shut down Colombia's 2nd largest oil pipeline

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two explosions have shut down Colombia's 80,000 barrel-per-day Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline, state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol said on Friday, July 5 with a military source describing them as attacks carried out by leftist rebels, according to Reuters.

The explosions on Colombia's No. 2 pipeline, used by U.S. oil producer Occidental and owned by Ecopetrol, had no immediate impact on crude production or exports in Latin America's No. 4 oil producer, according to a media official at Ecopetrol.

No details on how much crude was spilt by the explosions or the environmental damage was immediately available, the Ecopetrol official said.

The explosions were likely carried out by a rebel group, a military source told Reuters, without attributing the attack specifically to the FARC, as the nation's biggest insurgent movement is known, or its smaller counterpart the ELN.

The guerrilla groups have attacked oil infrastructure with increasing frequency in the past year or so, even as peace talks in Cuba progress between the government and the FARC.

The Marxist FARC this week called on the government to also seek a negotiated end to its war with the ELN.