Biggest US gasoline pipeline restarts after cyberattack
The Peninsula
The largest gasoline pipeline in the U.S. is returning to service, recovering from a cyberattack late Friday that sent pump prices surging and triggered shortages across the Eastern U.S. Colonial Pipeline Co. -- a critical source of gasoline and diesel for the New York area and the rest of the East Coast -- said it began to resume fuel shipments around 5 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday. In a further effort to provide relief, the Biden administration temporarily waived century-old shipping restrictions to allow foreign tankers to transport fuel to areas with shortages.
It’s unclear how long it will take for supplies to come back to normal, though. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday it would take days to fully restore supplies after the pipeline’s restart, while Colonial indicated it will get its physical operations up and running ahead of its business systems. It also could take up to a week for foreign-flagged tankers to fill the supply gap. "Resumption of flows is the start, but the race to logistically replenish retail gas stations is the next step,” said Michael Tran, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "The restarting of the Colonial pipeline is the beginning of the end of the crisis, not the end.”More Related News