Tag Archives: Colonial Pipeline

Fistfights over fuel in U.S. Southeast: pipeline outage Day 6

By Stephanie Kelly

(Reuters) – Fuel shortages worsened and tensions rose in the southeastern United States on Wednesday, as the shutdown of the largest U.S. fuel pipeline network entered its sixth day and Washington officials pledged new steps to alleviate supply issues.

Fistfights at gas stations were reported as tensions bubbled. One video showed an altercation between two customers at a station in North Carolina.

A ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last week halted 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel shipments. The pipeline stretches 5,500 miles (8,850 km) from U.S. Gulf Coast oil refineries to consumers in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.

Nearly 60% of gas stations in metro Atlanta were without gasoline, tracking firm GasBuddy said. Its survey showed 65% of stations in North Carolina and 43% in Georgia and South Carolina without fuel. Virginia also reported high outages.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the administration is addressing the fuel shortages and helping restore Colonial operations, including moving gasoline to places that need it.

“Our top priority right now is getting the fuel to the communities that need it, and we will continue doing everything that we can to meet that goal in the coming days,” Buttigieg told reporters at the White House.

There was no word from Colonial on a resumption of full operations after the most disruptive cyberattack on U.S. energy infrastructure. Its top executive would decide by the end of Wednesday if it were possible to restart, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Tuesday.

The supply crunch sparked panic buying in the U.S. Southeast, bringing long lines and high prices at gas stations ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May, the traditional start of the peak summer driving season.

At a Citgo station in East Atlanta, Charles Williams, 66, an Atlanta-based musician, filled his wife’s Mini Cooper, after seeing people with large jerry cans loading up.

“I wouldn’t say I know they’re hoarding, but I don’t know if they’re helping,” he said. “If gas is getting sold out everywhere, yeah, it’s time to start to worry.”

Privately owned Colonial Pipeline opened portions of the line manually in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and the Carolinas. It also accepted 2 million barrels of fuel to begin efforts to “substantially” restore operations by week’s end, the company has said.

The average national gasoline price rose to above $3.00 a gallon, the highest since October 2014, the American Automobile Association said.

HOARDING CREATING MORE SHORTAGES

Fuel industry representatives urged consumers to stop panic buying. They noted the country has plenty of gasoline supplies and said hoarding is creating shortages in areas not served by the pipeline.

“Retailers right now have sold several days worth of inventory within a few hours,” said Rob Underwood, President of the Energy Marketers of America.

Four southeastern states – Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia – joined federal regulators in relaxing driver and fuel restrictions to speed deliveries of supplies. Georgia suspended sales tax on gasoline until Saturday.

The FBI has accused a shadowy criminal gang called DarkSide of the ransomware attack. The group, believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe, has not directly taken credit for the Colonial hack, but on Wednesday it claimed to have breached systems at three other companies, including an Illinois tech firm.

Russia’s embassy in the United States rejected speculation that Moscow was behind the attack. President Joe Biden on Monday said there was no evidence so far that Russia was responsible.

REFINERS, AIRLINES REACT

It is unknown how much money the hackers are seeking, and Colonial has not commented on whether it would pay.

Gulf Coast refiners that move fuel to market on the Colonial Pipeline have cut processing. Total SE trimmed gasoline production at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, and Citgo Petroleum pared back at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant.

Citgo said it was moving products from Lake Charles and “exploring alternate supply methods into other impacted markets.” Marathon Petroleum said it was “making adjustments.”

Several airlines have been transporting fuel by truck or fueling planes at destinations rather than at East Coast origins. American Airlines has made changes to two long-haul flights out of Charlotte, North Carolina – one of its hub airports – through Friday.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Additional reporting by Laila Kearney in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago, and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler, Steve Orlofsky and David Gregorio)

Pipeline outage causes U.S. gasoline supply crunch, panic buying

By Laura Sanicola and Devika Krishna Kumar

(Reuters) -Gas stations from Florida to Virginia began running dry and prices at the pump rose on Tuesday, as the shutdown of the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline by hackers extended into a fifth day and sparked panic buying by motorists.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden projected that the Colonial Pipeline, source of nearly half the fuel supply on the U.S. East Coast, would restart in a few days and urged drivers not to top up their tanks.

“We are asking people not to hoard,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters at the White House. “Things will be back to normal soon.”

Colonial was shut on Friday after hackers launched a ransomware attack – effectively locking up its computer systems and demanding payment to release them – and the company has said it is hoping to “substantially” restart by the end of this week.

But the outage, which has underscored the vulnerability of vital U.S. infrastructure to cyberattacks, has already started to hurt.

About 7.5% of gas stations in Virginia and 5% in North Carolina had no fuel on Tuesday as demand jumped 20%, tracking firm GasBuddy said. Unleaded gas prices, meanwhile, neared an average $2.99 a gallon, its highest price since November 2014, the American Automobile Association said.

In an effort to ease the strain on consumers, Georgia suspended sales tax on gas until Saturday, and North Carolina declared an emergency. The U.S. federal government, meanwhile, has loosened rules to make it easier for suppliers to refill storage, including lifting seasonal anti-smog requirements for gasoline and allowing fuel truckers to work longer hours.

Granholm said there is not a shortage but a gasoline supply “crunch” in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Southern Virginia, regions that typically rely on Colonial for fuel.

Driver Caroline Richardson said she was paying 15 cents more per gallon than a week ago as she refueled at a gas station in Sumter, South Carolina. “I know some friends who decided not to go out of town this weekend to save gas,” she said.

DARKSIDE HACK

The strike on Colonial “is potentially the most substantial and damaging attack on U.S. critical infrastructure ever,” Ohio Senator Rob Portman told a Senate hearing on cybersecurity threats on Tuesday.

The FBI has accused a shadowy criminal gang called DarkSide of the ransomware attack. DarkSide is believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe and avoids targeting computers that use languages from former Soviet republics, cyber experts say.

Russia’s embassy in the United States rejected speculation that Moscow was behind the attack. President Joe Biden a day earlier said there was no evidence so far that Russia was responsible.

A statement issued in DarkSide’s name on Monday said: “Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society.”

It is unknown how much money the hackers are seeking, and Colonial has not commented on whether it would pay.

“Cyber attacks on our nation’s infrastructure are growing more sophisticated, frequent and aggressive,” Brandon Wales, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said on Tuesday at a Senate hearing on the SolarWinds hack that hit companies and government agencies.

GOVERNMENT STEPS IN

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a waiver on Tuesday that allows distributors to continue supplying winter fuel blends through May 18 in three Mid-Atlantic states to help ease supplies.

North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Transportation, meanwhile, relaxed fuel-driver rules, allowing truckers hauling gasoline to work longer hours. North Carolina and Virginia have both declared a state of emergency.

The U.S. has also started the work needed to enable temporary waivers of Jones Act vessels in response to the cyber attack – something that would allow foreign flagged fuel carriers to move from one U.S. port to another, the Transportation Department said.

There are growing concerns that the pipeline outage could lead to further price spikes ahead of the Memorial Day weekend at the end of this month. The weekend is the traditional start of the busy summer driving season.

Gulf Coast refiners that rely on Colonial’s pipeline to move their products have cut processing. Total SE trimmed gasoline production at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery and Citgo Petroleum pared back at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant, sources told Reuters.

Marathon Petroleum is “making adjustments” to its operations due to the pipeline shutdown, a spokesman said without providing details.

While the pipeline outage is having big short-term consequences in some regions, some experts believe the longer term impact will be small.

“Markets will go crazy, but two weeks later no one knows it happened,” said Chuck Watson, director of research at ENKI, which studies the economic effects of natural and other disasters.

(Reporting by Laura Sanicola, Stephanie Kelly and Devika Krishna Kumar; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Paul Simao, Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)

U.S. pump prices head for highest since 2014 as hacked fuel pipeline shut

By Devika Krishna Kumar and Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. gasoline prices at the pump jumped 6 cents in the latest week and could soon be headed for the highest level since 2014 due to the supply disruption caused by a cyber attack on the country’s biggest fuel pipeline system.

The ransomware attack forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down its entire system on Friday. Some smaller lines were restarted Sunday. Colonial on Monday said it expects to “substantially” restore operational service by the end of the week.

The network ships more than 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast to populous southeast and northeast states.

Gas prices have risen 6 cents per gallon on the week, said the American Automobile Association. The average price stood at $2.967 for regular unleaded gasoline compared with $2.904 a week earlier, the AAA said.

If the trend continues, an increase of 3 more cents would make the national average the most expensive since November 2014.

The southeastern United States will be the first to see price rises at the pumps due to the supply disruption caused by the shutdown of the country’s top fuel pipeline network – and demand has already picked up as drivers fill their tanks, industry experts said.

Areas including Mississippi, Tennessee and the east coast from Georgia into Delaware are most likely to experience limited fuel availability and price increases, as early as this week, said Jeanette McGee, AAA spokesperson, adding that those states may see prices increase three to seven cents this week.

“The shorter the pipeline shutdown, the better news for motorists.”

Parts of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee rely on the line for their fuel supplies and some of them suffered acute localized shortages and spikes in prices at the pump during previous shutdowns. Airlines in the region would also be vulnerable to a prolonged outage, said Tom Kloza, founder of the Oil Price Information Service.

U.S. gasoline demand is picking as more people are vaccinated against COVID-19 and begin to travel more. The peak demand summer driving season begins at the end of May.

Experts also urged drivers to avoid panic buying.

“Motorists are well advised not to strain the system by filling up or beating price adjustments- for they may make the problem much more severe if they do strain the system,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at fuel tracking firm GasBuddy.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

Top US fuel pipeline down for 4th day as hackers issue statement

By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. government and the top fuel pipeline operator in the United States on Monday worked to secure the network that transports nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supplies, as the group suspected of a ransomware cyberattack that caused it to shutdown last week said it was just trying to make money.

The attack on Colonial Pipeline is one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes reported and the resulting shutdown has disrupted fuel supply across the eastern United States, triggering isolated sales restrictions at retail pumps and pushing benchmark gasoline prices to a three-year high.

A news release issued on Monday in the name of the cyber group DarkSide, the group suspected of the attack on the pipeline, said “our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society.” Its statement did not mention Colonial Pipeline by name.

Lawmakers urged stronger protections for critical U.S. energy infrastructure, and the White House has made restarting the fuel network a top priority and organized a federal task force to assess the impact and avoid more severe disruptions.

While the U.S. government investigation into the attack is in its early stages, a former U.S. official and three industry sources said the hackers are suspected to be a cybercriminal group called DarkSide. Cybersecurity experts said the group appears to be composed of veteran cybercriminals focused on squeezing as much money as they can from their targets.

The southeastern United States would likely be the first to see price increases at retail pumps, and demand has already picked up as drivers fill their tanks. The southeast is the most dependent on the line and has fewer alternatives than states further north, and has seen prices spike during previous shutdowns.

Gas stations in southeastern states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee were seeing some abnormal buying, fed by demand fears, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“My biggest concern, as far as the consumer goes, is that you end up with a run on the gasoline supplies at the gas station, further exacerbating what is happening at the terminals,” said Andrew Lipow, president of consultants Lipow Oil Associates LLC.

Colonial said on Sunday it restarted some smaller lines between fuel terminals and customer delivery points but its main lines remained shut. It did not provide a timeline for a full restart of the 5,500 mile (8,850 km) system.

The pipeline system is the primary fuel artery from Gulf Coast refineries to Mid-Atlantic and southeast states. It moves over 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, supplying motorists and major airports.

The Department of Transportation announced emergency measures on Sunday to facilitate deliveries, lifting driver restrictions on fuel haulers in 17 states affected by the shutdown. It could take additional measures if the outage continues.

Traders provisionally booked at least six tankers to ship gasoline from Europe to U.S. destinations following the attack. Two European gasoline traders, however, said the market was taking a cautious approach to see how long the shutdown would last.

The line supplies jet fuel to major airports including the busiest in the country, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta. The airport expects the outage to be resolved before any impact on flights, a spokesman said.

An alternative, smaller conduit that serves the same region has already filled. Kinder Morgan Inc’s 720,000-bpd fuel pipeline had been working with customers to take on additional volumes since Friday and reached full capacity for May on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the company said.

If the disruption stretches on, fuel suppliers would need to use trucks and rail to transport fuel to compensate.

“Extended downtime at Colonial would severely impact refined product supply to the high-density East Coast, a region with just 818,000 bpd of refining capacity but 5.3 million bpd of current demand,” said investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co in a note.

Gulf Coast refiner Valero Energy chartered a tanker to store fuel offshore that it is unable to pump through the pipeline, and other refiners were looking to do the same, market participants said.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Stephanie Kelly in New York; Additional reporting by Raphael Satter and Steve Holland in Washington, D.C.; Editing Bernadette Baum and Grant McCool)