Colombia's Transandino oil pipeline hit by bomb attack - Ecopetrol

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA said on Sunday a bomb attack on the Transandino pipeline caused spillage in southwestern Narino close to the border with Ecuador.

The pipeline was not operating on Saturday during the attack, the first this year. There were 16 attacks in 2018, the company said.

Ecopetrol did not say who was responsible for the bombing or when the pipeline would return to service.

The 306-km (190-mile) Trasandino pipeline has capacity to transport about 85,000 barrels of crude daily from fields in Putumayo Province to the Pacific Ocean port of Tumaco, from where it is exported.

Colombia's southern region has extensive coca crops and laboratories to produce cocaine. Rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and criminal gangs also fight for territorial control in the area.

The ELN frequently attacks oil and energy infrastructure in the area.

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Helen Murphy; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)