Rebel attack downs key Colombia oil pipeline: army

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Left-wing guerrillas have bombed Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas oil pipeline and halted its crude pumping operations in an attack just a days before presidential elections, the army said on Friday.

The pipeline, the country's second most important, transports crude oil from Cano Limon fields operated by U.S. company Occidental Petroleum in Arauca province on the Venezuelan border to Covenas port on the Caribbean coast.

The pipeline pumps around 95,000 barrels per day, with 62,000 bpd coming from Cano Limon fields in February this year, according to government figures.

Left-wing guerrillas fighting a four-decade insurgency in Colombia blew up part of the pipeline with explosives on Tuesday, an army official said.

Occidental officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the attack.

Colombia's state oil company, Ecopetrol, shares output from the oil field production with Occidental and Repsol.

Ecopetrol said it expected operations to return to normal at the weekend.

Colombia is struggling to end a conflict involving left-wing rebels and rightist paramilitaries.

President Alvaro Uribe is expected to win a May 28 election after his tough security policies hit the FARC, the largest rebel group, and the cocaine trade they use to fund operations.

Rebel assaults on Colombia's infrastructure have been common during the conflict, although bombings of the Cano Limon pipeline have dropped since 2001, when there were 170 attacks.