Cano Pipeline, Occidental Oilfield Restart After Attacks

Occidental Petroleum Corp has restarted crude production at Colombia's Cano Limon oilfield and its pipeline is pumping again after a series of rebel attacks shut output and transport for several weeks, the military said on Monday.

The 485-mile (780-km) Cano Limon pipeline, which has the capacity to transport up to 210,000 barrels of crude daily (bpd) from the field in Arauca province to the Caribbean coast, was shut down on Nov. 17 after bomb attacks attributed by the military to the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group.

"At this moment production activities at the field are normal after being restarted and the pipeline to move the crude is working without problems," General Alvaro Vicente Perez, head of the Army's Quiron task force which provides security in the area, told Reuters.

The pipeline resumed pumping several days ago and the oilfield resumed production this weekend, the military and an oil industry source said.

The oilfield, near the border with Venezuela, produces about 50,000 bpd.

The ELN regularly attacks oil installations despite imminent peace talks with the government. This year, attacks against Cano Limon have led to the loss of at least 22,000 barrels of crude, according to state oil company Ecopetrol.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb)