Alert: Colonial Pipeline Shutdown

[Tomzstream]

Starting a thread to track Fuel availability and shortages in the wake of a Shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, a major fuel transport facility servicing most of the Eastern US. They were hit by a malware/ransomware attack two days ago, and there is no end in sight.

Talk is of using executive powers of the Federal Gov't to waive restriction on Fuel hauling by truckers and other means of getting fuel to stations. This may require use of ships to transport to East Coast Ports.

Not thrilled that they are waiving driving hours restrictions of Fuel Truckers, as this creates a very dangerous situation on the road.

We are planning a trip to Western South Carolina from Florida later this week with our Airstream and keeping an eye on availability of fuel. expecting costs to rise significantly.

Feel free to report shortages here on this thread. No politics please.

[88Limited]

To add fuel to the fire (so to speak), this article is from six days ago. There's a shortage of fuel truck drivers...



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tr...es/ar-BB1gk0gR

[Daquenzer]

N.Y. Times doubted there would be much of an immediate impact since stored fuel is sufficient.

[OTRA15]

Thanks for the new thread.

FYI a recent NYT article, updated yesterday:vhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/u...-pipeline.html

CNN's coverage was updated a few hours ago: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/09/polit...lan/index.html

. . . and indicates that "The company's main lines remain offline, but some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational, . . . "

Colonial Pipeline:https://www.colpipe.com/
Last company press release update yesterday afternoon:
https://www.colpipe.com/news/press-r...tem-disruption

FYI

[Bcc75]

Colonial is based here in Atlanta. Local newsfeeds indicate the main pipeline should be operational soon. And as Peter indicated in the post above, secondary pipelines are already back in operation. I think the key here is to avoid panic buying. That will be what will cause short term shortages.

[Tomzstream]

I get most of my news from Bloomberg, and this morning they are reporting it is still out for a third day. Storage is generally good for a day or two. Yes, panic buying and hoarding will deplete those stores quickly. Prices (RBOB futures) are up significantly this morning.

Don't want to speculate too much on who is behind this, but it appears to be a group known to be affiliated with the Russian gov't. The pipeline itself was shut down by the company as it feared further impact from the breach, mostly I believe, that the massive proprietary data breach would be exposed on the dark web. That threat still exists. This is a new reality and I am certain the NSA is aware of its origins. Not the first time we've been attacked in such a way, but this one could have serious economic repercussions.

Mostly interested in spot shortages along I-95 and I-26 if any.

[Tomzstream]

The Latest from the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57050690

[SouthForkAS]

no big dif for WTI, currently about $64 and change. Been that way for a while.

[Tomzstream]

No real reason for Crude to respond at all, at least until a shutdown of refineries occurs, if at all. This is a distribution issue, not a supply issue.

[Tomzstream]

Our first trip out in our first Airstream, which is now located on the West Coast, was to a festival in Flatrock, NC. We encountered a similar issue with the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, due to a maintenance issue that lasted over a week, and we ended up hunting for fuel there. Not looking forward to a similar scenario here. The last thing I want to do is end up in a long line trying to get fuel with an AS in tow.

We do several festivals a year, but try to keep them within a hundred miles or so anymore. But this was to be our first in over a year for obvious reasons... And it is too far (380 miles each way) to do without several fill-ups.

[GetawA-S]

The people in western NC haven’t heard the news. Gas was the regular price ($2.69) and there were no lines at all.

[coasttocoast]

The Pipeline runs just outside of my neighborhood in Atlanta. It's the kind of thing you never notice. I was able to buy gas yesterday without any hint of a problem.

[Tomzstream]

Thanks for the observations on supply and cost. Your feedback is appreciated. Just watched the press conference. Seems it will be wrapped up by the end of the week. However, per some scenarios I have read, that is long enough to cause a pinch in supplies.

I was anticipating that as the news hit this Monday Morning, folks might respond in a way as to begin to pressure supply. Nothing like taking all the surplus inventory and putting it in the tanks of cars that are sitting in driveways to cause a bump in prices and spot shortages. I always recommend that people minimize their purchases when prices are under upward pressure, but the human mind works a little differently from that in most cases... (who bought Toilet paper in massive quantities a year ago?)

I do have friends in Greenville who had filled all their tanks in their three cars, last night, not at my urging, but because they considered themselves to be proactive. And these are retired folks. Prices have been going up recently and will continue their climb due to seasonal factors. Not concerned with that... just don't like being in lines. I also experienced the great gas crunch on the early 70s due to the Arab oil embargo... I was on a spring break trip from NJ to Florida and it was touch and go the whole way. When we got to FL, there were precious few stations open... we actually found one near St Augustine that was fully automated and only took Dollar Bills... That probably limited how much folks could buy so they actually had gas! We had several "ones" in our wallets and managed to get enough to move on for a few days!

[brick1]

OK. Which one of you Airstreamers hacked Colonial?

[Bcc75]

Ha!!!
So on the day the wheels come off with the whole pipeline thing and everyone is panicking that we may never have gas again.....this email comes out from Ford:
Coincidence???

[OTRA15]

Recent NYT article FYI:

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05...l-oil-pipeline

"Experts said several airports that depend on the pipeline for jet fuel, including those in Nashville, Baltimore-Washington and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., could have a hard time later in the week. Airports generally store enough jet fuel for three to five days of operations."

FYI

[majorairhead]

3.09 in my part of Pennsylvania. PA has some ridiculous gas taxes.

The mirror is a great place to start when looking for an answer to the problem

[jcanavera]

This thread has been cleaned up and is now reopened. Again let's keep it on topic and refrain from personal attacks or insults to others in our comments.

Jack

[xyzabe]

We live in southern GA and prices have actually dropped. Returning home from a weekend camping and filled up the diesel for 2.449, about 13 cents less than 87 octane. No panic buying around here, and estimates are an 18 day supply in storage within the state of GA as of Monday.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

. . .
Colonial Pipeline:https://www.colpipe.com/
Last company press release update yesterday afternoon:
https://www.colpipe.com/news/press-r...tem-disruption
. . .

Neither of the links above works this morning . . . another cyber attack?

New CNN pieces from last night:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/polit...ine/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/polit...ner/index.html

Can anyone else open the Colonial Pipe website? [I am going out for a few hours]

Happy trials, [sic]