The American Automobile Association said on Monday that gas prices had increased as a major oil pipeline carried more than 100 million gallons of fuel from Texas to New Jersey.
The AAA said in a statement that the national gas price rose six cents a week to $ 2.96 on average. If prices rise three more cents, the national average would be the highest since November 2014.
And the AAA said it expects gas prices to continue to rise this week due to the closure of the Colonial Pipeline, which closed on Friday after being hit by a cyber attack.
“This shutdown will have an impact on both gasoline supply and prices, but the effect will vary regionally. Areas including Delaware off the east coast of Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia are likely to experience limited fuel availability and price increases, as early as this week, ”Jeanette McGee, AAA spokesperson, said in a statement.
“These states may see a three to seven cents increase in prices this week.”
Gasoline futures jumped more than 2 percent in prepaid, but only 0.3 percent more traded after the stock markets opened.
Crude oil futures traded more than 1 percent in prepaid, but the direction reversed early Monday and traded lower.
The Colonial Pipeline says that it saves about 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supply. Two sources with knowledge of federal investigation into the attack told The Associated Press The criminal enterprise known as Darkside is behind it.
The company said in a statement issued on Sunday evening that some of its smaller lateral lines are running but its main lines are still closed. The company has not given any time limit as to when the pipeline can resume full operations.
But time is of the essence. Analysts say the bulk of the pipeline is more likely to be closed, with prices likely to rise drastically. And this comes only because of increasing fuel demand as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 epidemic.
Debneel Chaudhary at research firm IHSMarkit said that if the outage goes up by one to three weeks, gas prices could rise.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, if it’s an outage of that magnitude, if we see a 15 to 20 percent increase in gas prices over the next week or two,” he said.
The colonial government is working with the federal government to investigate and respond to hacking. Commerce Secretary Gina Raymondo said Sunday that an “all-hands-on-deck” effort to restore operations continues.
“We are working closely with company, state and local authorities to ensure that they resume normal operations as soon as possible and that there are no supply disruptions.”
Darkside claims that it does not attack hospitals and nursing homes, educational or government targets, and donates a portion of its donations to charity.
It has been active since August and is typical of the most powerful ransomware gangs, known to avoid targeting organizations in former Soviet Blast countries.
Colonial did not state whether he paid the ransom or was in talks, and Darkside neither announced an attack on his Dark Web site nor answered the Associated Press reporter’s questions. A lack of acknowledgment usually indicates that a victim is either negotiating or has paid.
The Department of Transportation said it would relax hours-of-service rules for drivers carrying gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products, allowing them additional or more flexible hours to make up for any fuel shortages related to pipeline outages. Will be allowed to work. . This applies to drivers carrying fuel in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
One of the people close to the colonial investigation said the attackers also stole data from the company, possibly for the purpose of extortion. Sometimes stolen data is more valuable to ransomware criminals, who benefit by crippling a network, as some victims are loathe to view sensitive information dumped online.
With post wires
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