Colombia's Ecopetrol
Closes Oil Pipeline
After Guerilla Attacks
The Colombian Petroleum
Company (Ecopetrol)
suspended Monday the oil
flow in the border
regions with Venezuela,
after guerillas attacked
the country's most
important Cano Limon-Covenas
oil pipeline.
The pipeline was damaged
by two explosive attacks
by the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) in Arauca
province and Santander
province Saturday and
Sunday, Ecopetrol told
reporters.
"The pipeline was
transporting 96,000
barrels of oil per day
from the east to the
west of the country," an
Ecopetrol spokesperson
said.
Statistics showed the
line had been damaged
more than 1,000 times in
the past 20 years. It
was attacked two months
ago near Tibu, which
caused an oil spill and
cut the water supply to
Santander inhabitants
for many days.
FARC planted bombs in
energy towers and oil
pipelines to obstruct
the government's
security policies and
extort resources from
multinationals, said
Ecopetrol.
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