Guerrillas heralded the start of their year-end bombing campaign with blasts
                  on the country's second largest pipeline over the weekend, on Monday and
                  again on Wednesday, spilling more than 8,400 barrels of crude oil. They
                  were the first attacks since Nov. 24.

                  The Maoist-inspired People's Liberation Army (EPL), which numbers no
                  more than 500 fighters, declared a Christmas truce on Wednesday but the
                  Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National
                  Liberation Army (ELN), the oldest and largest rebel groups in the
                  hemisphere, have rejected any ceasefire.

                  "Military intelligence told us they had intercepted radio communiques by the
                  ELN and the FARC with orders to renew the pipeline bombings," an
                  Ecopetrol spokesman told Reuters.

                  "It seems both groups reached an agreement to suspend attacks from late
                  November but perhaps they now want to show their military power before
                  peace talks," he added.

                  Crude oil is Colombia's top export but the ELN and the FARC routinely
                  target the oil industry to protest what they see as the excessive involvement
                  of foreign multinationals.

                  The FARC, set up as a pro-Soviet force in the mid-1960s, has agreed to
                  launch on Jan. 7 the first formal talks with the government in six years aimed
                  at ending the long-running civil conflict that has claimed 35,000 lives in just
                  10 years.

                  The smaller, Cuban-inspired ELN, the pioneer of energy infrastructure
                  sabotage from the early 1980s, is due to hold parallel talks with government
                  officials and civic leaders starting in mid-February. The talks are expected to
                  focus on national oil policy.

                  In a dark year for Colombia's energy infrastructure, rebels have blown up
                  the Cano Limon pipeline, the country's second- largest, a record 78 times.
                  The bombing of another pipeline killed more than 70 civilians when blazing
                  crude engulfed their village.

                  Colombia produces an average 762,000 barrels of crude per day and last
                  year earned $2.7 billion in oil exports.

                  Rising attacks on oil facilities have hampered efforts to boost output levels
                  and a number of foreign multinationals have scaled back production and
                  exploration citing the deteriorating security situation.

                  The ELN has been blamed for most of this year's 78 attacks on the
                  480-mile (740 km) pipeline that snakes from the Cano Limon oil field,
                  operated by U.S. multinational Occidental Petroleum Corp., to the
                  Caribbean port at Covenas.

                  Ecopetrol has not yet estimated how much crude was spilled in the year nor
                  the cost of damage. But 66 attacks on the 230,000 barrel per day (bpd)
                  capacity pipeline in 1997 cost an estimated $100 million in damage and lost
                  output.

                  The ELN also masterminded this year's most devastating oil industry attack
                  when it bombed the 500-mile (800 km) Ocensa pipeline, the largest in the
                  country, in northwest Antioquia province in October.

                  Burning crude from the 630,000 bpd pipeline engulfed an entire village,
                  killing at least 73 people in what was regarded as one of the worst civilian
                  death tolls in a 30-year-old war.

                  The pipeline is operated by a British, French and Canadian consortium and
                  pumps crude from British Petroleum Co Plc's Cusiana-Cupiagua field in the
                  eastern plains region.

                  The FARC, meanwhile, has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks on
                  the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline and has sabotaged the small Transandino
                  pipeline and U.S.-operated oil storage facilities in southern Putumayo
                  province.

                  Despite repeated government attempts to "get oil out of the conflict," the
                  rebels continue to view the industry as a legitimate military target.

                  "Colombia's energy resources have historically been plundered with a view
                  to supplying the United States' energy needs at the lowest possible costs,"
                  the ELN says in its manifesto.

                   Copyright 1998 Reuters.