After paying a $5 million ransom to hackers, Colonial Pipeline, the most important oil artery on the East Coast of the United States, which was paralyzed for nearly a week by a ransomware attack, resumed operations on May 13. Despite this, the lack of fuel in the United States has not been immediately resolved, as of 12:30 on the 14th, there are still nearly 90% of gas stations in Washington and nearly 70% of gas stations in North Carolina. In seven states, including Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee, about one-third of gas stations are still short of fuel.
Earlier, President Joe Biden assured the nation that fuel supply would return to normal this weekend. If the crisis continues until next week, the US media NBC News quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that the government will consider using military reserves or letting the military provide assistance.
In addition, out of panic about the lack of oil, some American car owners have begun to hoard gasoline with plastic gasoline bottles, gasoline barrels and other fancy hoards, and these photos have gone viral on the Internet. In Pickens County, South Carolina, there was even a driver who was badly burned by a car accident that caught fire to gasoline hoarded in the back seat. U.S. government officials have had to come out and call on people to stay sane and not hoard gasoline.
Screenshot of us media report
The national oil shortage continues
Colonial said on the evening of the 13th that they have restarted the entire oil pipeline system and delivered in the areas where they provide services, but the product distribution supply chain with a total length of about 8850 kilometers will still take several days to return to normal. Colonial also cautioned that some markets "may experience or continue to experience intermittent service disruptions." The pipelines supply 45 percent of the U.S. East Coast with gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and fuel to the military.
Although the company has resumed operations, the oil shortage continues. The Washington Post reported that on May 14, local time, in a coastal town in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, because only 2 of the 6 gas stations in the area had gasoline, a long line of cars stretched several blocks on the main road.
In Alcatraz Mountain, North Carolina, cars lined up to refuel pictured from foreign media
Local media in Atlanta reported that nearly two-thirds of gas stations in the Atlanta area are without oil. As of the afternoon of the 14th, about 63% of the gas stations did not have gasoline, which was better than the 68% on the evening of the 13th.
Reuters reported that gasoline shortages have intensified from Virginia to Florida, with warehouses and distribution centers waiting for gasoline supplies. As the disruption also forced two refineries to limit production, airlines changed routes to refuel at airports in unaffected areas.
Platts energy information analyst Richard Joswick said gasoline inventories in the northeastern U.S. could fall to a five-year low this week.
The lack of supply directly led to the rise in oil prices for six consecutive days. The average price of regular gasoline in the United States rose to $3.05 per gallon (about 3.8 liters), the first time since 2014 that the average oil price exceeded $3 per gallon.
However, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), oil prices in parts of the southeast are still among the lowest in the United States. Oil in Texas and Alabama is $2.80 or less. Oil prices in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia are close to $2.90. Georgia and Maryland endured the biggest increases in oil prices at $3 a gallon. And the high cost of fuel on the West Coast has pushed up the average U.S. oil price level, such as California's oil price of $4.12 per gallon.
American people "fancy oil hoarding"
Out of panic over gasoline shortages, car owners in some U.S. states have begun to hoard gasoline like crazy, and pictures have gone viral on social media Twitter. For example, a man is using an oil gun to fill a plastic gasoline barrel, while the trunk of the car behind him is piled up with plastic gasoline barrels.
USA Today interviewed Mike Mcleod, who took the photo, who said he took the photo with his wife on May 11 at a gas station in Alabama and posted it on social media shortly after. The owner of the gas station said of the photo, "It's crazy."
There is also a "found in Virginia" shared by netizens, where the man is refueling into a super-large oil drum.
"A friend took it yesterday," parked at a gas station to refuel a car, also filled with plastic gasoline barrels.
Another person shared a video of a woman using a plastic bag of gasoline to cause netizens to complain, but then some sharp-eyed netizens pointed out that this is actually an old video of 2019.
Local police in Alcatraz, North Carolina, reportedly had some verbal clashes between owners waiting to refuel and owners filled with multiple cans of gasoline, but "not too seriously."
In Pickens County, South Carolina, the local sheriff's office reported on the evening of the 13th that a driver had a car accident that caused the gasoline on the back seat to catch fire and was seriously burned, and afterwards the driver told the police that she had been hoarding gasoline.
For the phenomenon of hoarding gasoline, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission tweeted on the 13th that "when people fall into despair, they will stop thinking clearly." These people take potentially fatal risks. "If you know someone who wants to bring a container that's not used for fuel to refuel, tell them it's dangerous to do so."
On the same day, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg also issued a warning against the hoarding of gasoline and called on everyone to remain sane and safe. "We certainly understand the concerns that people in some areas are facing supply disruptions, but hoarding hasn't made things better."
In fact, before Colonial resumed operations, the Biden administration had discussed using the military to help. According to four people familiar with the matter, the White House was so concerned about the largespread, long-term disruption and shortage of fuel transportation that officials solicited a series of options from government agencies in an attempt to ease the crisis.
The people also said one option would be for the military to provide assistance, including potentially relying on fuel reserves or mobilizing the National Guard. But the White House ultimately decided that such measures were not needed yet, opting instead for a less radical approach and setting a deadline for resolving the crisis early next week. If the crisis persists into the coming week or new threats emerge, the option of having the military to assist could be reconsidered.
Bloomberg reported on the 13th that company quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that in fact, Colonial Company had paid a ransom of $5 million to hackers as early as a few hours after the ransomware attack occurred to restore the system. For this cyber attack, Biden said on the 13th that the hackers who launched the attack came from Russia, and he stressed that he did not believe that Putin and the Russian government led by him were behind the incident, but the Russian government had the responsibility to prevent such cyber attacks that occurred in its territory.
A single ransomware paralyzed Colonial, and 17 affected U.S. states and Washington, D.C., were forced into a state of emergency. The New York Times, The Washington Post and other mainstream MEDIA in the United States earlier lamented that this incident exposed the huge vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the United States.
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