Ecopetrol Cuts 2012 Output Target on Rebel Attacks

Colombian rebels have more than tripled attacks this year on state-run Ecopetrol SA’s southern pipeline as part of a strategy targeting energy infrastructure in the fifth decade of armed conflict, a police official said.

Saboteurs blasted the Transandino oil pipeline 37 times so far this year, including last weekend, compared with 10 incidents in all of 2011, said the official, who refused to be identified because of government policy. Blasts caused a fire and spill earlier this month on the pipeline, which carries crude 307 kilometers (191 miles) over mountains to the port of Tumaco.