BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombia’s Cano Limon-Covenas Oil Pipeline was bombed by unknown actors, operator Cenit said on Sunday, prompting the suspension of pumping between oil fields in the country’s northeast and the Caribbean coast, where the oil is exported.
The attack occurred in a rural area of Saravena, in the region of Arauca, according to Cenit, a subsidiary of majority-state-owned oil company Ecopetrol.
There were no injuries or deaths reported.
The bombing triggered the activation of a contingency plan to control spills and environmental contamination, said Cenit, which owns the pipeline.
Cenit did not attribute the attack to any particular group. According to the military, guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents who rejected a 2016 peace deal with the government operate in the area.
The Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline, which can transport up to 210,000 barrels of oil per day and runs along Colombia’s northern border with Venezuela, is frequently the target of attacks, some of which cause fires and the contamination of rivers and streams, according to Cenit.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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