Motorists alarmed by rising gasoline prices and fears of supplies running low are flocking to gas stations in the Southeast as the impact of a ransomware attack that crippled the country’s biggest fuel pipeline ripples across the region.
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Although a large section of the Colonial Pipeline is back online, gas prices in several states are spiking to a nearly seven-year high, while about 1,800 stations across the U.S. are out of fuel, according to travel app GasBuddy. That includes an Exxon station in Charleston, South Carolina, which was completely sold out of gas as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a spokesperson.
The Cumberland Farms gas station on Highway 1 in Vero Beach, Florida, reported long lines all day for gas currently selling for $2.75 a gallon.
“We still have gas, but it’s going really fast. We may run out today,” a worker at the station told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’ve been going through about 2,000 gallons of regular gas an hour. We only have 1,000 gallons of gas left until we get our delivery,” which the attendant noted was expected tonight. “Diesel is OK. But everything else is dwindling down very fast.”
President Biden tried to reassure Americans on Wednesday, when a reporter asked what he would say to those worried about gas shortages.
“We have been in very very close contact with Colonial Pipeline … and I think you’re going to hear some good news in the next 24 hours,” the president said. “And I think we’ll be getting that under control.”
Nearly half of stations in the Atlanta metro area are reported out of gasoline and 28% of stations in North Carolina are out, according to GasBuddy, which compiles its data using “crowdsourced” reports from consumers. In parts of the Tar Heel State, such as Greenville and Asheville, three-quarters of the stations tracked were out of gas.
In North Carolina on Wednesday, drivers were paying an average of $2.85 for a gallon of regular gas, up nearly six cents from Tuesday and 16 cents higher from a week ago, according to auto club AAA. Georgians were paying an average of $2.95, up eight cents from Tuesday and 23 cents higher than only a week ago.
A RaceTrac gas station in Acworth, Georgia, ran out of gas over the weekend and hasn’t received a new shipment in four days. “We don’t have any gas, and we have no idea when we will get more,” a spokesperson said. “We’ve turned plenty of people away. The phone rings all day long.”
Gas prices had already been edging up before the cyberattack on growing consumer demand and resurgent economic growth, with AAA noting “significant recent increases in online traffic and bookings on AAA.com, particularly for hotels and car rentals, heading into the summer travel season.”
Charging $5.99 a gallon at some pumps
The national average price of gasoline on Wednesday surpassed $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014, a milestone that signals “things are slowly returning to normal” as the pandemic begins easing in the U.S., Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Wednesday in a statement. “In this case, rising gas prices are a sign Americans are getting back out into the world — attending baseball games, going to concerts, taking a road trip — basically staying anywhere but at home.”
That step towards normalcy was jolted by last Friday’s cyberattack against the pipeline, which supplies about 4% of the East Coast’s fuel needs. The FBI has said DarkSide, a criminal ransomware group based in Eastern Europe, is behind the attack.
After the attack, the governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia — where the Colonial Pipeline is a key source of fuel — declared states of emergency. The moves coincided with spurts of panic buying and pushed prices at the pump higher.
Hours after Virginia’s emergency declaration, Lether Kerney took an unexpected hit after pulling into a BP Gas station in Richmond. “It was a lot of people there, no one looked at the price,” Kerney told a local CBS affiliate.
Unaware the gas station was charging $5.99 per gallon, or twice the national average, Kerney spent double what she normally would. “I had half a tank of gas, so when it got to $25 I started looking to see what was going on. And after I got to $30, I was like, ‘Oh my God! I spent $35.45 to fill up my tank. Six gallons of gas for $35. That’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Wow! Gas prices at this BP gas station off Williamsburg Rd in Richmond now up to $6.99. When we arrived about 20 minutes ago it was at $5.99.
A woman who lives in this area says when she filled up two hours ago it was at $2.99. @CBS6 pic.twitter.com/LBbtAuDGRi
— Shannon Lilly CBS 6 (@ShannonLillyTV) May 11, 2021
In the Sunshine State, a rush to the pump led to local shortages, as Florida’s gas supplies are mostly not impacted by the Colonial Pipeline closure.
Florida residents were urged by Attorney General Ashley Moody not to hoard and to “only purchase gas when you need it.”
In addition to concerns that hoarding would only exacerbate fuel shortages, one federal regulatory agency advised against related risky behavior. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a series of cautionary tweets on Wednesday, including one advising against filling plastic bags with gasoline. Another urged folks to let others know it’s dangerous to use “containers not meant for fuel to get gas.”
Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline.
— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) May 12, 2021
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