Fights are breaking out at the gas pump, as a gasoline shortage across the southern Atlantic seaboard deepens after a Russian-linked cyber...
Fights are breaking out at the gas pump, as a gasoline shortage across the southern Atlantic seaboard deepens after a Russian-linked cyberattack on a key oil pipeline, and the Biden administration is urging motorists not to deepen the crisis with unnecessary panic buying.
Motorists in Knightdale, North Carolina, on the outskirts of Raleigh, traded blows on Tuesday as frustrations boiled over in a long line for gas at a Marathon station.
A witness said a woman tried to cut the line for gas, and then screamed obscenities and spit on a man who refused to let her cut in. The man jumped out of his vehicle, spit on the woman in return, and began grappling with her, video shows.
A small gas station chain, Parker's, which serves Georgia and South Carolina, announced on Facebook on Tuesday that customers would be limited to $50 worth of gas.
North Carolina has been the state hardest-hit by fuel shortages after the key Colonial Pipeline was disabled by a ransomware attack, but the impact of the crisis is rippling across the country, with the national average price of gas exceeding $3 for the first time since 2014.
Officials at Colonial will decide on Wednesday whether it is safe to resume operations, and Biden administration officials have privately admonished the pipeline operator for its weak security protocols and lack of preparation, according to CNN.
The fuel crunch comes as a double-whammy to U.S. consumers, as new data on Wednesday showed inflation hitting its highest level in 12 years in April. With nearly 70 percent of all retail goods distributed by truck, the fuel crisis is also threatening supply chains across the impacted region.
In metro Atlanta, nearly 60 percent of all gas stations are dry, 71 percent of stations in Charlotte are offline, and across the state of North Carolina nearly a quarter of all stations have no gas, said GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan on Wednesday.
Motorists in Knightdale, North Carolina, on the outskirts of Raleigh, traded blows on Tuesday as frustrations boiled over in a long line for gas at a Marathon station
Long lines of cars wait for gas at a Costco in Atlanta on Wednesday morning, as a gasoline shortage across the southern Atlantic seaboard deepens after a Russian-linked cyberattack on a key oil pipeline
It comes on a day of fast-moving developments in the fuel crisis, with:
- The average national gasoline price rising above $3.00 a gallon on Wednesday, the highest since 2014
- In metro Raleigh, 72% of gas stations running dry, in Charlotte 71%, and in metro Atlanta 60%
- Colonial Pipeline saying it will decide today whether it is safe to resume pipeline operations
- Supply chain bracing for Memorial Day weekend with more than 37 million people to travel at least 50 miles
- Biden administration urging motorists not to deepen the crisis with unnecessary panic buying
- U.S. Energy Secretary officials considering moving supply by train or ship if necessary
- Shortages spreading to the Florida panhandle as well as Washington DC and Baltimore
- States of Emergency in effect in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia
The ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline last week halted 2.5 million barrels per day of fuel shipments in the most disruptive cyberattack on U.S. energy infrastructure ever.
The FBI has confirmed that the DarkSide ransomware group is behind the attack, and the criminal gang is believed to be based in Eastern Europe or Russia and operate with the tacit approval of the Russian government.
A cybersecurity source tells DailyMail.com that the group scans targets and does not attack them if their systems use the Russian language.
Russia's Embassy in the United States rejected speculation that Moscow was behind the attack. President Joe Biden on Monday claimed there was no evidence so far that Russia was responsible.
It is unknown how much money the hackers are seeking, and Colonial has not commented on whether it would pay.
The pipeline stretches 5,500 miles from U.S. Gulf Coast oil refineries to consumers in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.
The pipeline's private operator manually opened portions of the line to release needed supplies in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and the Carolinas. It has accepted 2 million barrels of fuel to begin a restart that would 'substantially' restore operation by week's end, the company said.
The supply crunch, amid panic buying by motorists, has brought long lines and high prices at gas stations ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of this month, which traditionally marks the start of the peak summer driving season.
The AAA expects more than 37 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home during the Memorial Day weekend, up 60 percent from last year, which was the lowest since AAA began keeping records in 2000.
De Haan, the GasBuddy analyst, said on Wednesday morning that there were only slight fuel shortages at the wholesale level, suggesting that the main issue was finding enough trucks to distribute gasoline to stations.
S&P's Oil Price Information Service put the number of service stations encountering shortages at more than 1,000.
'A lot of that is because they're selling three or four times as much gasoline that they normally sell in a given day, because people do panic. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,' S&P analyst Tom Kloza said.
The pipeline runs from the Texas Gulf Coast to the New York metropolitan area, with the states most dependent on it including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, Kloza said.
To ease shortages, the White House is considering temporarily waiving a law that says ships delivering products between US ports must be built and manned by Americans.
The Transportation Department also is relaxing some workforce requirements and enlisting railroads to deliver fuel inland, while the Environmental Protection Agency has lifted some fuel quality requirements on an emergency basis.
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said officials are considering moving supply by train or ship if necessary.
Secretary Granholm also warned service station owners: 'We will have no tolerance for price gouging.'
Long lines form for gas at a Costco in Atlanta on Wednesday morning, as a gasoline shortage across the South
A huge line forms for gasoline at Costco on Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday. As the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline entered into its fifth day, efforts are under way to stave off potential fuel shortages
A sign reading 'Out of Fuel' is taped to the window at an Exxon Gas Station in Lynchburg, Virginia on Tuesday
Drivers wait in a long line to fill up their vehicles at a Kroger supermarket gas station in Decatur, Georgia on Tuesday. The FBI confirmed that Darkside ransomware is responsible for the attack that compromised the Colonial Pipeline
A gas pump in Greenville, South Carolina warns of shortages as the fuel crisis deepens across the Southeast
On Tuesday, the governors of Florida, Virginia and Georgia joined North Carolina in declaring states of emergency in a bid to protect fuel supplies, with some gas pumps already dry in Atlanta and other cities.
The Colonial Pipeline delivers about 45 percent of the fuel used on the US East Coast, and the Southeast is particularly vulnerable because it has fewer refineries and pipelines to deliver fuel, compared to the Northeast, which is less at risk.
The Southeast is also less equipped to quickly import large quantities of gasoline from other countries, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The average national gasoline price rose to above $3.00 a gallon on Wednesday, the highest since 2014, the American Automobile Association said.
The fuel shortage has caused frustration for drivers across the South, sending motorists on desperate hunts for stations that still have gas.
'This place is dead closed,' said Charles Staples, a 31-year-old banker, after circling rows of shut fuel pumps in his Volvo at an Atlanta station. 'I heard about the thing, but I just thought they'd be long lines or something.'
In Raleigh, the last few stores with gas were those along major thoroughfares, said Todd Sloan, a general contractor. 'Those that have fuel have very long lines,' he said.
On Wednesday the shortages began spreading to the Florida panhandle, Washington DC, and Baltimore.
In Pensacola, Florida, 73 percent of stations had no gas, while in DC 8 percent were dry and in Baltimore 7 percent, according to De Haan.
A government map shows a mishmash of pipelines, petroleum ports and petroleum refineries. The Southeastern area now under biggest stress shows little in the way of pipelines or refineries, whereas the Gulf area, the Northeast and the Midwest are well-covered, so aren't as at-risk from fuel shortages at the moment
A Racetrack station is seen out of service on Wednesday in Atlanta, where 60% of all stations are out of gasoline
Long lines of cars waiting for gas at a QT in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday as motorists search for fuel
A Marathon Gas Station in Atlanta warns that it is out of gas on Wednesday morning
Gulf Coast refiners that rely on the Colonial Pipeline to move fuel to market 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 its Lake Charles refinery and "exploring alternate supply methods into other impacted markets." Marathon Petroleum, another large refiner, said it was "making adjustments" to its operations due to the pipeline shutdown.
Jennifer Granholm, the energy secretary, urged calm.
'We know that we have gasoline; we just have to get it to the right places,' she said.
Colonial Pipeline was attacked on Thursday, and closed from Friday until Monday.
It is beginning to be brought back on line, but the company - which provides 45 per cent of all fuel to the East Coast of the U.S. - warns that full service may not be resumed until the end of the week.
American Airlines has been forced to add refuel stops to two long haul flights from its Charlotte, North Carolina hub as a likely effort to conserve fuel in areas where it could run short.
'We're seeing a gas run,' said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis.
'Now we're going to see more dramatic [effects] as people run to the stations and run them dry.'
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a temporary fuel transportation waiver to increase the supply of gas.
The attack on Colonial Pipeline, which runs from Texas to New Jersey and transports 45 percent of the East Coast's fuel supply, is the largest assault on US energy infrastructure in history and has sent shockwaves across the industry
Drivers in Lynchburg, Virginia rushed to fill up their tanks last night as more than 1,000 gas stations in the Southeast reported running out of fuel
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denied any involvement. His spokesman said: 'Russia has nothing to do with these hacker attacks, and had nothing to do with the previous hacker attacks. We categorically do not accept any accusations against us.'
Colonial, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, hasn't said whether it has already paid or is negotiating a ransom with the hackers.
The White House earlier declined to say whether companies that are hacked like Colonial should pay ransom to their attackers, saying instead that it was typically a 'private sector decision' - a move that has since been condemned by cybersecurity experts.
Meanwhile, as the shutdown entered its fifth day, a Maryland fuel distributor warned there would be 'catastrophic' shortages in the coming days given Colonial has only managed to restore some services in the wake of the hack.
'It's going to be catastrophic,' John Patrick, chief operating officer of Liberty Petroleum LLC, told Bloomberg.
'Governors should declare a state of emergency and ask people chasing tanker trucks to gas stations to stay home. School buses stay put.'
Fears of a looming shortage have already prompted panic buying with gas stations in various cities already running out of fuel or restricting sales.
Colonial said it was working to 'substantially' resume operations by the end of this week but reports of gas shortages are already emerging up and down the East Coast, Pictured above is a gas station in Atlanta
The American Automobile Association is predicting that gas prices will only surge as a result of the shutdown after the national gas price average jumped six cents to $2.9. Pictured above is a gas station in Atlanta on Monday
The pipeline, the largest in US, is responsible for transporting more than 100 million gallons of fuel - 2.5 million barrels - daily through pipelines laid out between Texas and New Jersey.
Airlines flying out of Philadelphia International Airport are burning through jet-fuel reserves and the airport has enough to last 'a couple of weeks,' a spokeswoman said.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the major hub for Delta Air Lines, said it is looking at other suppliers of fuel but that operations have not been affected.
DarkSide claimed in a statement posted on the dark web on Monday that their only goal was to 'make money' and not cause chaos with their ransomware attack.
'We are apolitical, we do not participate in geopolitics,' the statement read. 'Our goal is to make money and not creating problems for society.'
'From today we introduce moderation and check each company that our partners want to encrypt to avoid social consequences in the future.'
Despite saying they want to avoid chaos, experts have warned that the shutdown of Colonial last Friday could cause extraordinary disruption and result in a spike in gas prices the longer the pipeline remains down.
The Russian embassy in the US has denied involvement, saying: 'We categorically reject the baseless fabrications of individual journalists and reiterate that Russia does not conduct 'malicious' activity in the virtual space.'
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