US capital running out of gas, even as Colonial Pipeline recovers from most disruptive cyberattack

Photo courtesy: Reuters

Washington: The U.S. capital was running out of gasoline on Friday (Friday 14), even as the country's largest fuel pipeline network ramped up deliveries following a cyberattack and Washington officials assured motorists that supplies would return to normal soon. 

The six-day Colonial Pipeline shutdown was the most disruptive cyberattack on record, demonstrating how vulnerable the vital U.S. infrastructure is to cybercriminals.

Widespread panic buying continued two days after the pipeline network restarted, leaving filling stations across the U.S. Southeast out of gas even in areas far from the pipeline.

With more Americans taking road trips as pandemic restrictions ease, pump prices are at their highest in years, two weeks before the peak summer driving season kicks off. The average national gasoline price has climbed to almost $3.04, the most expensive since October 2014, the American Automobile Association said. 

On Friday (May 14) gas station outages in Washington, D.C., climbed to 87%, from 79% the day before, tracking firm GasBuddy said. President Joe Biden assured motorists supplies should start returning to normal by this weekend.

"Most of these states/areas with outages have continued to see panicked buying, which is likely a contributing factor to the slow-ish recovery thus far," said GasBuddy`s Patrick De Haan. "It will take a few weeks."

Colonial Pipeline announced late Thursday it had restarted its entire pipeline system linking refineries on the Gulf Coast to markets along the eastern seaboard.

Some states experienced modest improvements but still had a lot of gasoline outages. About 70% of gas stations in North Carolina were without fuel, with outages in around 50% of stations in Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.

In the Logan Circle neighbourhood of Washington, D.C. on Friday, David Pritzl, 22, stopped at a gas station to fill up but did not find any fuel available. Pritzl, a college student from Connecticut, was going to Virginia to visit his father.

"I have half a tank and could get back if I wanted to, but I always want to make sure I have it just in case," he said. "I’m not worried, but it`s not convenient."

The hacking group blamed for the attack, DarkSide, said it had hacked four other companies including a Toshiba subsidiary in Germany. 

Colonial Pipeline has not determined how the initial breach occurred, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. The privately held company has focused on cleaning its networks, restoring data and reopening the pipeline.

Colonial has not disclosed how much money the hackers were seeking or whether it paid. Bloomberg News reported that it paid nearly $5 million to hackers.

To speed delivery of fuel supplies, four states and federal regulators relaxed restrictions on fuel truck drivers, and Washington issued shipping waivers allowing U.S. refiners Valero Energy Corp and Citgo Petroleum to use foreign-flagged vessels to move gasoline and diesel from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the East Coast ports.

Gulf Coast refiners that send fuel to market through the Colonial Pipeline have cut production because they have been unable to move gasoline, diesel and jet fuel through the pipeline. A smaller, alternative pipeline filled to capacity quickly after Colonial shut its network last Friday.

"Imports are likely to increase from Europe to offset the shortfall but will take time to arrive," said Chris Midgley at S&P Global Platts.