River Contaminated After Oil Pipeline Attack in Colombia

An oil pipeline in Colombia’s Arauca Department bordering Venezuela has come under attack, resulting in river contamination, local media report.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Colombia blames the attack on a section of the Cano Limon Covenas pipeline on the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group, RCN Radio said on Friday.

The bombing of the pipeline led to an oil spill into the Bojaba river near the border with Venezuela, which will have a serious impact on the environment and local residents, RCN Radio said.

The pipeline is owned by Colombia’s state-run Ecopetrol oil company and has the capacity to transport over 200,000 barrels of crude a day.

The Cano Limon oil fields account for 30 percent of the Colombian oil output.

The ELN is the second-largest rebel group in Colombia after FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).