Colombia's Trasandino pipeline bombed for seventh time in 2019

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Trasandino oil pipeline was bombed late on Friday in western Narino province, spilling crude into a nearby stream, state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA said, the seventh time it has been attacked this year.

The attack took place in Casas Frias in the municipality of Pupiales, causing oil to leak into La Pinuela water source, Ecopetrol said in a statement on Saturday. The pipeline was not in operation at the time, it said.

Ecopetrol has dispatched personnel to the area and is in the process of cleaning the spill, it said.

The 306-kilometer (190 miles) pipeline has capacity to transport some 85,000 barrels of crude daily to the southern port of Tumaco.

Although Ecopetrol does not usually name the group responsible for attacks, oil infrastructure bombings are regularly carried out by leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.