Major U.S. fuel pipeline, which has been crippled by a cyberattack for six days, sent workers to physically release some stored supplies on Wednesday as fuel deficiencies across the Southeast deteriorated and motorists fumed.
A ransomware assault on the Colonial Pipeline a week ago stopped 2.5 million barrels each day of fuel shipments in the most problematic cyberattack on U.S. energy infrastructure. The pipeline extends 5,500 miles (8,850 km) from U.S. Gulf Coast oil refineries to buyers in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.
Privately owned Colonial Oil Pipeline operator physically opened parts of the line to deliver required supplies in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and the Carolinas. It has released 2 million barrels of oil to begin a restart that would “generously” reestablish activity by the end of the week, the organization said.
The supply challenge, in the midst of frenzy demand by motorists, has brought long queues and exorbitant prices at service stations ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of this month, which customarily denotes the beginning of the summer driving season.
Almost 33% of service stations in metro Atlanta and in Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, were without fuel, tracking firm GasBuddy said. The normal price for standard gas rose to $2.99 a gallon, the highest since 2014.
LONG Queues
“This spot is dead shut,” said Charles Staples, a 31-year-old banker, after going round in his Volvo at an Atlanta station. “I caught wind of the thing, yet I just thought they’d be long queues or something.”
In Raleigh, North Carolina, the last couple of stations with gas were those along major avenues, said Todd Sloan, a project worker. “Those that have fuel have extremely long queues,” he said.
Four southeast states – Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia – joined government regulators in loosening up driver and fuel limitations to speed deliveries of supplies. Georgia suspended sales tax on gas until Saturday.
The FBI has charged a shadowy group of hoodlums called DarkSide for the ransomware assault. DarkSide is known to be situated in Russia or Eastern Europe.
Russia’s Consulate in the US dismissed the speculation that Moscow was behind the assault. President Joe Biden on Monday said there was no proof so far that Russia was involved.
MORE Continuous Assaults
It is obscure how much cash the hackers are looking for, and Colonial has not remarked on whether it would pay.
“Cyber attacks on our country’s infrastructure are getting more refined, regular and forceful,” Brandon Ridges, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday on the SolarWinds hack that became known in December and hit organizations and government offices.
Gulf Coast refiners that depend on the Colonial pipeline to move fuel to market have cut processing. Total SE managed gas production at its Port Arthur, Texas, treatment facility, and Citgo Petrol pared back at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant.
Citgo said it is moving items from its Lake Charles treatment facility and “investigating substitute stockpile techniques into other affected business sectors.” Marathon Petroleum, another enormous refiner, said it is “making changes” to its activities because of the pipeline closure.
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