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The Colonial Pipeline is back in action after a six-day shutdown caused by a ransomware attack — but widespread gas station outages in the Southeast could linger for days.
Here are the latest updates on the hack, the shutdown and how it’s affecting gas stations across the Southeast:
President Biden emphasized that the US does not believe the Russian government was involved in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.
“But we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia. … We have been in direct communications with Moscow about the imperative for responsible countries to take decisive action against these ransomware networks. We’re also going to pursue a measure to disrupt their ability to operate. And our Justice Department has launched a new task force dedicated to prosecuting ransomware attackers to the full extent of the law,” Biden said.
When asked if he was confident Russian President Putin was not involved, Biden responded:
Biden added that he expects to speak with Putin about the international community setting up standards for these sort of attacks.
President Biden outlined steps his administration is taking to mitigate gas shortages and protect Americans from price gouging following a ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline.
Biden noted four main steps as part of his administration’s response:
President Biden urged Americans to keep calm and avoid panic-buying fuel as Colonial Pipeline works to fully restore its pipeline operations after a ransomware attack.
Biden sought to assure Americans that gasoline supplies would improve by the weekend and early next week.
“Do not get more gas than you need in the next few days,” he said, adding that “gasoline supply is coming back online, and panic buying will only slow the process.”
The President vowed to work with governors to stop any price gouging practices. In South and North Carolina, officials said they received nearly 1,000 reports of price gouging amid the gas shortage.
“Do not, I repeat, do not try to take advantage of consumers during this time… Nobody should be using this situation for financial gain. That’s what the hackers are trying to do. That’s what they’re about. Not us. That’s not who we are,” he said.
President Joe Biden said it is going to take a few days for gas supply to return to normal, but most regions could see operations fully up-and-running by this weekend, continuing into next week.
Biden said while the pipeline is running, it will be a slow process for people to feel it at the pumps.
“This morning Colonial reported that fuel is beginning to flow to a majority of the markets that they service, and they should be reaching full operational capacity as we speak – as I speak to you right now. That is good news,” the President said on Thursday.
President Biden is speaking from the White House on the ransomware attack that caused a six-day shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
The pipeline launched the restart of its operations Wednesday evening, but operators warned it will take several days for service to return to normal.
Biden signed an executive order Wednesday meant to better protect the nation from cyberattacks, but even as he signed it, the White House acknowledged more will need to be done to prevent the type of hack that affected the Colonial Pipeline.
That attack, which temporarily shut down the pipeline supplying fuel to the eastern United States this week, caused some gas stations to run dry and gas prices to spike as Americans flocked to the pumps in a spurt of panic buying.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday night that there’s “an end in sight for the supply disruptions.”
She said that as supplies return to normal, the Biden administration will continue its “whole-of-government effort to mitigate any challenges, including the swift steps we’ve taken to boost gas supply in affected States.”
CNN’s Matt Egan and Clare Duffy contributed reporting to this post.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said the state will investigate all 622 price gouging complaints it has received in about two days.
As of this morning, a staggering 71% of the gas stations in North Carolina were reporting outages in fuel, according to GasBuddy.
He said the state’s price gouging law comes into effect whenever the governor declares a state of emergency.
Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday evening, a move that allowed him to temporarily suspend some fuel regulations in a bid to ensure adequate supply.
“What it prohibits is sellers taking advantage of people’s desperation to make a quick buck. So if a gas station has their supply and underground storage tank that they pay X dollars on, they can’t raise the price on that just because folks are desperate,” Stein said about the price gouging law.
He said the exception is if sellers pay more to resupply the fuel. They are allowed to pass those costs on to consumers, according to Stein.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that it will “take a few days” for gas supply to get back to normal after the Colonial Pipeline launched a restart following a ransomware attack that prompted a six-day shutdown.
He encouraged people to stop hoarding and panic-buying gasoline.
“We are seeing issues where there might not have been issues otherwise because people rushed to the pump and took more than they needed,” Buttigieg said.
“We have all the supply we need as a country. We have a temporary issue in terms of getting it to where it needs to be, and that’s why we’re taking these other measures with things like trucks to help compensate all the pipelines getting back up to speed,” he added.
The country will have to take more policy steps to ensure that private companies are not vulnerable to cyberattacks, Buttigieg said.
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It could take a few days for gas supply to get back to normal in part because of how slow fuel flows through the Colonial Pipeline, experts say.
The 5,500-mile pipeline flows at just 5 miles per hour, meaning it could take days or even weeks for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to flow through to most places and refill nearly empty storage, Platts analysts said.
It carries fuel from refineries along the Gulf Coast to New Jersey. It provides nearly half the gasoline and diesel consumed by the East Coast, making it perhaps America’s most important pipeline.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the Colonial Pipeline indicated Thursday morning that the restart of the pipeline “went well” overnight, adding “things will return to normal by the end of the weekend,” she wrote on Twitter.
The Colonial Pipeline said Thursday morning it has made “substantial progress” in restarting its pipeline system, adding that fuel has begun flowing to most markets it services.
By midday on Thursday, the operators of the Colonial Pipeline expect every market it services will receive fuel from the system.
A map distributed by the Colonial Pipeline indicates segments of the pipeline that run in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland are expected to be operational by noon ET.
The Colonial Pipeline launched its restart Wednesday evening after a six-day shutdown caused by a malware attack. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday the successful restart of the 5,500-mile pipeline “should mean things will return to normal by the end of the weekend.”
The Colonial Pipeline finally launched the restart of its operations yesterday – but it could take a few days for things to get back to normal at the pump.
This morning, hours after operations restarted, man gas stations across the Southeast were still out of fuel.
As of 7 a.m. ET today…
These figured come from GasBuddy, a platform that tracks fuel demand, prices and outages.
The Colonial Pipeline is back in action after a six-day shutdown, but widespread gas station outages in the Southeast could linger for days.
Industry executives and government officials warned it will take time to refill gasoline supplies depleted by panic-buying, a truck driver shortage and the ransomware attack on the pipeline.
As of 7 a.m. ET today, a staggering 71% of the gas stations in North Carolina and 55% in Virginia are without gasoline, according to GasBuddy, a platform that tracks fuel demand, prices and outages. And 49% of the stations in Georgia are without gas.
That means all three states only saw “limited overnight improvement” in the availability of gas, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
Major cities including Atlanta, Charlotte, Myrtle Beach and Raleigh are seeing “some” improvement in outages, De Haan wrote on Twitter.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Colonial Pipeline indicated Thursday morning that the restart of the pipeline “went well” overnight.
“This should mean things will return to normal by the end of the weekend,” Granholm wrote on Twitter.
One issue is the 5,500-mile pipeline flows at just 5 miles per hour, meaning it could take days or even weeks for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to flow through to most places and refill nearly empty storage, Platts analysts said.
At the same time, a massive shortage of truck drivers is snarling the delivery of badly-needed fuel to stations in the Southeast.
Oil industry executives pleaded with Americans on Wednesday not to hoard gasoline, warning that panic-buying is exacerbating the situation. Officials said some gas stations blew through days’ worth of inventory in mere hours.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said “people will start to see normalcy in the next couple of days” after the Colonial Pipeline restarted operations following a six-day shutdown caused by a ransomware attack.
“It still takes awhile to get the gasoline through the pipeline to the terminals and then for the truckers to offtake from the terminals and then drive them to gas stations. So people will start to see normalcy in the next couple of days, hopefully by the end of the weekend,” Granholm said on CNN’s “New Day.”
She added that big cities may see a resolution by today or tomorrow and warned people to not hoard gasoline.
Granholm said she spoke this morning to Colonial Pipeline’s CEO, who gave a positive report of overnight operations.
The FBI confirmed Monday that a criminal group originating from Russia, named “DarkSide,” is responsible for the cyberattack.
She added “we need to up our game” on cybersecurity in the private sector and wants every sector to practice good “cyber hygiene.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that Colonial Pipeline should be back to normal by end of the weekend.
The Colonial Pipeline launched the restart of its operations Wednesday evening following a six-day shutdown caused by a ransomware attack, but the pipeline’s operators warned it will take several days for service to return to normal.
President Biden is expected to speak about the pipeline at 11:50 a.m. ET.
