Reuters: Thursday May 21, 11:53 am Eastern Time 

Colombia oil strike halts Ocensa pipeline 
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BOGOTA, May 21 (Reuters) - Pumping operations along Colombia's Ocensa 
pipeline, the largest in the country, have been paralyzed as a result of an 
indefinite strike by the main oil workers' union USO, British Petroleum Co 
Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BP.L) said Thursday. 

The pipeline serves the giant Cusiana-Cupiagua oil field in eastern 
Colombia. Field operator BP said production at the 320,000 barrels per day 
field would have to be ramped down from ``late Thursday'' or early Friday if 
the strike continued.

``The Ocensa pipeline was shut down as of last night around 9 p.m. (2100 
local time/0600 GMT) as a result of the USO strike,'' a BP spokesman told 
Reuters.

``We have limited on-site storage capacity for about a day and by tomorrow 
morning or even this evening we would be forced to start ramping down 
production if the strike continues,'' he added. 

The USO launched a strike in the main oil refining center of 
Barrancabermeja late Monday after a right-wing death squad killed at least 
11 people and abducted more than 40 others over the weekend. The union has 
now voted to continue the stoppage indefinitely and has vowed to halt all 
crude pumping operations.

The BP spokesman said Ocensa pipeline operators had been barred from 
entering pumping stations by USO demonstrators but explained that BP had 
enough crude in storage at the Caribbean coast lifting terminal at Covenas 
to meet export commitments until June 1. 

This is the first time the Ocensa pipeline has been forced to halt crude 
pumping since it came into full operation in the latter half of last year. It 
was, however, bombed by leftist rebels on one occasion last year shortly 
after all the pipework was completed.

Colombia's second largest pipeline, the Cano Limon-Covenas, was operating 
normally Thursday morning, U.S. oil giant Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY - 
news) said.