MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) More than 1,000 gas stations in the United States have been hit with fuel shortages, stoking panic after the shutdown of a major pipeline in a cyberattack last week, Fox business reported on Wednesday.
The Colonial Pipeline, which carries about 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the US East Coast, was hit by the cyberattack last Friday, resulting in the pipeline shutdown and rise in gas prices.
Most of the pipeline work resumed on Monday, and the company expects to restore almost all operations by the end of the week, the newspaper said, adding that the US government had to temporarily suspend a number of environment-related standards to help the fuel market.
According to the outlet, long lines of cars began gathering in gas stations in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia on late Tuesday, while S&P's Oil price Information Service confirmed the number of stations reporting shortages of fuel to exceed 1.000.
According to S&P analyst Tom Kloza, many of the shortages occur because gas stations are "selling three or four times as much gasoline that they normally sell in a given day, because people do panic."
The US Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an emergency fuel waiver to help eliminate shortages in DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the wake of the attack on the pipeline. The measure will remain in effect through May 18.
