Fuel industry analysts say unwarranted panic-buying among drivers is following the shutdown of a cyberattack shutdown of a major pipeline, which is going into fifth day. The Colonial pipeline runs from the Texas Gulf Coast to the New York metropolitan area. The states most dependent on the pipeline include Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
This type of cyberattack locks up computer systems and is accompanied by a demand of ransom. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says a large part of the pipeline resumed operations manually late Monday. Colonial anticipates restarting most of its operations by the end of the week. Motorists may still feel a crunch because it takes a few days to ramp up operations, but she said there is no reason to hoard gasoline. S&P's Oil Price Information Service put the number of gas stations encountering shortages at more than one thousand.
To ease brief shortages, the White House is considering temporarily waiving a law that says ships delivering products between U.S. ports must be built and manned by Americans. The Transportation Department also is relaxing some workforce requirements and enlisting railroads to deliver fuel inland. And the Environmental Protection Agency lifted some fuel quality requirements on an emergency basis.
