Colonial Pipeline to announce date of pipeline restoration today

Colonial Pipeline said it will announce by late Wednesday that when the company will be in the position to safely restart gasoline and diesel flows which have been halted since last Friday.

This statement by Colonial comes as the company is under pressure by US politicians over scarcity of gas in the country.

“This is something that demands really serious federal attention. The U.S. government needs to be involved, they need to help mitigate this. My fear is, you have these gas shortages, it’s going to cause a lot of problems for people.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Tuesday, prior to declaring a state of emergency, reported Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, the national average retail gasoline price rose to $3.008 per gallon, highest since October 2014, according to American Automobile Association.

The paralyzed condition of the most important fuel pipeline of US has led to the shortage of fuel in several gas stations across South and East. Other than Florida, Virginia and North Carolina are also under state of emergency.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that it will take days to “ramp up operations” even if the company announces to restart on Wednesday.

Colonial’s media relations office said earlier in the day, “We have been providing daily and sometimes twice daily updates to our shippers, and have been in close contact with law enforcement and federal agencies to relay information on our restoration efforts. We will continue to keep all of our stakeholders informed and appreciate the outpouring of support we have received throughout the industry.”

Till now, the company was only successful in restarting a small portion of the pipeline. It is reported that even when the pipeline will start functioning fully, it will take about two week for gasoline to reach East Coast gas stations.

According to GasBuddy, 20 per cent of filling stations in Atlanta were dry by Tuesday afternoon.

Due to fuel shortage, the White House announced several measures in 12 states and Washington DC to revamp the supply of fuel. Department of Transportation also announced measures that would allow foreign tankers to transport gasoline and diesel to East Coast ports.

Regarding the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline, The Biden administration will give a House briefing at 6 p.m. Washington time today.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

Picture Credits: Bloomberg