Oil pipeline breaks in southern Brazil; same line involved in major spill in July 6.08 p.m. ET (2223 GMT) October 28, 2000 RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) B A pipeline broke and leaked diesel oil into the ocean at a port in southern Brazil, federal officials said Saturday, less than four months after the same pipeline ruptured and caused the country's worst oil spill in 25 years.

Workers set up floating barriers to contain the flammable oil around the port of Paranagua and used vacuums to remove it from the ocean and port area, said Joao Romao, spokesman for Transpetro, the transportation subsidiary of federal oil giant Petrobras.

Because the leak was detected quickly after it began late Friday, the pipeline only leaked 120 gallons of the diesel oil, Romao said.

The pipeline carries oil inland from the terminal to the nearby Petrobras-owned Getulio Vargas Refinery, where on July 16 a section of the pipeline burst, spewing more than a million gallons of crude oil into the Iguacu River.

The spill at the refinery in Araucaria, about 435 miles southwest of Rio, contaminated a 27-mile stretch of the river, devastated wildlife and sparked fears it would soil the world-famous Iguacu Falls.

A Petrobras internal investigation concluded July's spill was triggered by a series of human errors. Friday's leak was caused by a faulty joint that did not resist pumping pressure, Romao said. Technicians detected the leak less than one minute after it began, he said, and immediately stopped the flow of oil.

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-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 28, 2000