Source: Octavio Jones/Reuters
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  • Fuel shortages that hit the East Coast of the U.S. last week began to ease on Sunday, with more than 1000 stations receiving supplies
  • Refiners and fuel stations are now racing to recover before the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May
  • On Sunday, overall outages stood at 12,405 stations, down from 13,450 on Saturday and a peak of more than 16,000
  • The United States is the world’s largest oil consumer, with around 150,000 fuel stations nationwide
  • Bloomberg News and the New York Times reported that Colonial paid nearly US$5 million (roughly A$6.44 million) to DarkSide hackers

Fuel shortages that hit the East Coast of the U.S. last week began to ease on Sunday, with more than 1000 stations receiving supplies as recovery efforts continue from a crippling cyber attack.

The six-day closure of Colonial Pipeline’s 8900-kilometre-long network was the most disruptive hacking event on record, and prevented millions of barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from reaching distribution points throughout the eastern United States.

Refiners and fuel stations are now racing to recover before the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May — the traditional start of the peak-demand summer driving season.

“Colonial Pipeline is currently shipping at normal rates, based on shipper nominations,” said Eric Abercrombie, a spokesman for the company, in an email.

“It will take some time for the supply chain to fully catch up.”

According to tracking firm GasBuddy, roughly 70 per cent of fuel stations in Washington, D.C., are still empty.

Meanwhile, more than half of those in North Carolina are out, while just less than half were without fuel in South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and Georgia.

GasBuddy also noted that U.S. fuel demand had dropped 15 per cent on Saturday compared to a week earlier as consumers tempered their fuel hoarding. Widespread panic buying had even caused shortages in some areas not served by the pipeline.

The U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer, with around 150,000 fuel stations nationwide. On Sunday, overall outages stood at 12,405 stations, down from 13,450 on Saturday and a peak of more than 16,000.

“Every day, gasoline supplies are getting better as Colonial operates at capacity and additional oil tankers from the Gulf Coast make their way to the East Coast,” said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

Bloomberg News and the New York Times reported that Colonial paid nearly US$5 million (roughly A$6.44 million) to DarkSide hackers — the organisation thought to be behind the attack — but the company has not confirmed the ransom demand or the payment.

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