HOUSTON (Reuters) - FBI agents were investigating what appeared to be a bomb attached to a natural gas pipeline in central Oklahoma, law enforcement officials said on Wednesday.

The device appeared to be "pipe bomb and a wind-up clock" attached to an above-ground natural gas pipeline in a remote area 5 miles south of Okemah in east-central Oklahoma, a spokeswoman for the Okfuskee County Sheriff's office said.

FBI spokesman Clay Simmonds said Oklahoma Highway Patrol and FBI bomb technicians removed the device from the pipeline, examined it and "rendered it safe." Its contents were then taken to an FBI laboratory for further examination of whether its ingredients could have exploded. The FBI took charge of the investigation, he said.

"It looks like it could be an explosive device," Simmonds said. "We're taking the steps to treat it as such."

He said test results should be available within two weeks.

The pipeline was not damaged. There were no residences or businesses near the pipeline where the device was found, so no evacuations were necessary, Simmonds said.

Okemah is located about 75 miles east of Oklahoma City.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays and Erwin Seba; editing by Jim Marshall)