Gas Price Spike Feared as Ransomware Attack Shuts Colonial Pipeline Network

Gas Price Spike Feared as Ransomware Attack Shuts Colonial Pipeline Network

Fears of spiked gas, oil and diesel prices struck the eastern United States after a Friday night ransomware cyberattack shut a pipeline overseen by company Colonial Pipeline. Energy, oil and gas analysts immediately cautioned that any prolonged outage on the 5,500 miles of pipeline could cause major disruptions and a spike in gas pump prices along the East Coast.

Colonial Pipeline, the country's largest refined products pipeline operator, has not said who they suspect carried out the cyberattacks that typically involve criminal hackers seizing data and demanding payment for its return.

Gas and diesel prices have spiked during Colonial shuts before, including a 2017 leak that led to extreme price gouging in the days which followed. But many oil and gas experts were optimistic Saturday morning that no gas price spike would occur for U.S. drivers and truckers if the shut was only temporary.