Pipeline shutdown sparks panic in US

Fears that the shutdown of a major fuel pipeline network could cause a gasoline shortage led to some panic buying and prompted US regulators on Tuesday to temporarily suspend clean fuel requirements in three eastern states and the nation's capital.

While it remained unclear the degree to which supplies would be affected, drivers lined up to fill their tanks at gas stations in the Southeast, with some carrying extra containers amid fears of fuel scarcity.

A ransomware attack on Friday on Colonial Pipeline forced the company to close its entire network, but government officials called for calm on Tuesday and said the situation is only temporary.

Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the largest fuel conduit system in the United States, sends gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the populous East Coast through 8,850 kilometers of ducts that serve 50 million consumers.

The company said it expects to have the pipeline network fully up and running by the end of the week.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Tuesday that some areas "may feel a supply crunch, as Colonial fully resumes".

However, "there should be no cause for hoarding gasoline, especially in the light of the fact that the pipeline should be substantially operational by the end of this week and over the weekend", she told reporters at the White House.

Travel season

The shutdown raised fears that the shortages would cause gasoline prices to spike just ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, the unofficial start of the US summer travel season.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday a one-week suspension of clean air rules in an effort to ease supply issues.

The waiver is meant "to address the fuel supply emergency caused by a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline's computer networks that led to the pipeline's shutdown", EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a letter to the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and the mayor of Washington.

The EPA move, effective through May 18, suspends rules that require urban areas to use fuel with additives like MTBE, which makes gasoline less polluting but also more expensive.

The waiver "is necessary to take action to minimize or prevent disruption of an adequate supply of gasoline to consumers", Regan said.

That followed the weekend announcement from the Transportation Department that it was easing up on time limits for drivers of tankers carrying diesel, gasoline and jet fuel to 18 of the most affected states, and is considering easing shipping rules as well.

"Everybody's seeing the news, you know, they get fearful, then everybody rushes out and gets gas. They're filling up gas cans and everything," said a gas station manager in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"We'll be out of gas before the sun goes down if it stays this way."

American Airlines said in a statement that two daily long-haul routes out of Charlotte, North Carolina, were affected by the fuel shortage, without giving further details.

Oil industry analyst Patrick De Haan said on social media that the national average gasoline price reached $2.97 a gallon (3.8 liters), "matching the highest since 2018".

While he said more than 1,000 gasoline stations along the East Coast were running out of fuel, including a little over 5 percent in Georgia and 7.5 percent or more in North Carolina and Virginia, he cautioned against overreacting.

Oil prices had already been on the rise as the global economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, rebounding to just over $68 a barrel on Tuesday from less than $22 in April 2020.

John Catsimatidis, CEO of United Refining Co, which processes more than 70,000 barrels of oil per day and owns more than 400 gas stations in the New York area, said on Monday that the pipeline shutdown will send prices higher, estimating an impact of "at least four cents a gallon".

Agencies Via Xinhua