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A cyberextortion attempt on the Colonial Pipeline had gasoline futures up 1.5% on Monday after a ransomware attack brought pipeline operations to a halt.
The pipeline is responsible for the delivery of about 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, according to the company, transporting fuel between the Gulf Coast and Northeast. The company told the Associated Press on Saturday that the attack was executed by DarkSide, a criminal cybergang.
Colonial Pipeline is still restarting portions of its network and said Sunday that its main pipeline was still offline. The attack could further increase prices if the company is unable to resolve the attack for a period of time.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Two people close to the investigation said that the shutdown had been carried out by a criminal gang known as DarkSide that cultivates a Robin Hood image of stealing from corporations and giving a cut to charity.
Futures for crude and fuel, prices that traders pay for contracts for delivery at some point in the future, typically begin to rise each year as the driving season approaches. The price you pay at the gas pump tends to follow.
The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has jumped 6 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.02 per gallon, which is $1.05 higher than a year ago. Those year-ago numbers are skewed somewhat because the nation was going into lockdown due to the pandemic.
For the moment, seesawing prices may be felt mostly within the energy industry as suppliers adjust to potential shifts in the flow of gasoline.
More fuel may be sourced from East Cost refiners, J.P. Morgan said Monday, and an extended outage along the Colonial Pipeline would force suppliers to seek fuel from the Midwest, rather than the Gulf.
In response to the attack, the Biden administration loosened regulations for the transport of petroleum products on highways as part of an "all-hands-on-deck" effort to avoid disruptions in the fuel supply.
