The largest refined products pipeline in the U.S. announced it was resuming operations on May 12 after it shut down 5,500 miles of gas pipelines due to a ransomware hacking attack. Colonial Pipeline Co., which supplies about 45 percent of the fuel used on the East Coast, paused gas shipments after being hacked over the weekend—resulting in subsequent panic buying in more than 13 states along the coast. As people started hoarding fuel, stations began running out of gas. While Colonial Pipeline resuming operations will help bring things back to normal, the gas shortage won't disappear overnight—and it may last a lot longer than you'd hoped. Read on to find out exactly when one expert believes the gas shortage will finally end.
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A gas expert says the shortage will be over by Memorial Day.
iStockIf you're expecting to easily find gas this weekend, you might have to reevaluate your plans: The pipeline resuming operations isn't going to immediately bring gas back. In fact, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told USA Today that he expects the gas shortage will loom until the end of the month. "I think that by Memorial Day or shortly after, that it won't be such a project to fill your tank back up," he predicted.
De Haan also noted that people will likely see gas outage numbers peak 48 hours from now as the pipeline resumes over the next couple of days. By Memorial Day, "you may occasionally find a station without fuel, but outages should be less than 20 percent by then in all areas," he tweeted on May 13.
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Panic buying is likely to prolong the shortage for weeks.
ShutterstockAccording to De Haan, much of the ongoing shortage will be caused by humans continuing to hoard whatever fuel they can find—especially if they are not aware the pipeline has resumed operations. "A lot of people aren't going to hear about this very quickly," De Haan said. "People have jobs, they're out and about—behavior won't necessarily immediately change."
This will not only lead to shortages continuing later this week, De Haan said, but the situation may also get worse when the weekend demand hits. "People are filling up at a breakneck pace. There's just no way that stations can stay anywhere near caught up," he explained.
Colonial Co. also said it would take days for the supply to return to normal.
ShutterstockOf course, panic buying isn't the only reason the gas shortage could last until the end of the month. Colonial Pipeline Co. said in a statement that "it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal," even after they announced they were resuming operations. Susan Grisson, chief industry analyst at American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, told USA Today that this kind of disruption in the supply chain requires a strategy on how to continue operations.
"It takes time to regroup massive quantities of product and efficiently make deliveries to more remote areas that are supplied by the Colonial; figuring out the time and logistics takes some time," she said.
Some states are suffering worse gas shortages than others.
ShutterstockSome states on the East Coast have been hit harder by this shortage than others. According to data from GasBuddy on May 13, North Carolina has been leading the pack with the most stations out of fuel at 71 percent. Following close behind is Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, where 55 percent, 54 percent, and 49 percent of stations are out of fuel, respectively. Fortunately, De Haan said on Twitter that he is "optimistic the situation will resolve quickly," but he did add that "motorists could help the situation by holding off for a day or two to let stations refuel faster."
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