The Colonial Pipeline hopes to Basically Resume Operations this Week

The colony pipeline hopes to "basically resume operations by the end of the week" | Colonial Pipeline 

A major US electricity pipeline, hampered by a weekend ransom attack, aims to restore service "dramatically" by the end of the week.

Colonial Pipeline said Monday afternoon that it is using a "phased approach" to restart its production capacity. The system provides approximately 45% of the fuel for the East Coast.

The turmoil of the colonial system, stretching more than 5,500 miles from Texas to New Jersey, threatens to leave some service stations in the southeast without fuel. The system transports more than 100 million gallons of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and domestic heating oil to the East Coast from refineries along the Gulf of the United States.

If the situation isn't fixed soon, supply-dependent stations could start to run out in a few days, says Patrick DeHaan, head of oil analysis at the GasBuddy fuel-saving app, which tracks prices and outages.

"No one is out yet, but we are probably on the cusp," he adds. Today, tomorrow, and especially Wednesday, they will see some cuts. "

He urged drivers not to panic in countries along the Gulf Coast and Southeast Atlantic.

"Don't go out and store the gas and make the problem worse," he says.

Hackers attack the system with a ransomware attack, which takes computer systems hostage until payment is made.

In a statement on Monday, the FBI said that a criminal group is known as Darkside “is responsible for compromising the colonial pipelines. We continue to work with the company and our government partners on the investigation. "

As consumers prepare for a shock, the likelihood of a domestic fuel outage or price hike depends almost exclusively on how long the pipeline remains idle, analysts say.

"My intuition is telling me now that this is an important event in the history of cybersecurity, but not necessarily for fuel supplies or fuel prices," says Tom Close, an analyst with the Oil Price Information Service. But he adds that if Colonial declares that the main lines of its system will be inactive for another three or four days, "it will become more complicated."

Colonial Pipeline said on Monday that its goal is to "substantially restore operational service by the end of the week".

He also said that the federal government's decision to temporarily allow tanker truck drivers to bypass statutory driving time limits “should help” gas stations maintain adequate supplies.

"We continue to assess the stock of products in storage tanks at our facilities and others through our system and work with our carriers to transport this product to local delivery terminals," Colonial Pipeline said in her statement.

DeHaan and Kloza said the shutdown is unlikely to move the average national price of gasoline by more than a few cents. According to the AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular gas on Monday was $ 2.97, up 1 cent on Sunday and 7 cents from last week with increased demand.

"Events like this aren't necessarily big price drivers," says DeHaan. "This is more of a challenge than a presentation."

The episode shows how vulnerable the country's energy infrastructure is to infiltration.

"It certainly reveals a big weakness," says DeHaan.

It's a "wake-up call" to the energy industry, Clausa says, adding, "Imagine if you were one of the energy companies."

Ann Neuberger, a senior White House cybersecurity adviser, said on Monday that Darkside carried out the attack, which the FBI has been investigating since October.

"It's a new and very worrying variable," Newberger told reporters at a White House news briefing. "It is offered mainly as a service and the profits are split" with the ransomware developers.

Neuberger said that US intelligence officials are also investigating whether the attack was supported by a foreign party. The US intelligence community has blamed Russia and China for the recent cyberattacks.

When asked if Colonial has paid any money to DarkSide, Neuberger said it will refer that question to the company. He said the US government had not advised the company on this issue.

But the FBI has long warned that paying a ransom will only fuel more attacks.

Elizabeth Sherwood Randall, National Security Adviser to the President

This post is written by https://youransis.blogspot.com/. You can't use it commercially unless you are given permission to use so.

noctorous

Noctorous is a professional engineer with vast and broad experience finding out the solution to the problems to serve the people free of cost.

Share this post