The Colonial Pipeline cyberattack is prompting fuel outages throughout the southeastern US

• Close to 15% of gas stations in North Carolina are out of fuel, oil analyst Patrick De Haan said.
• Many gas stations across the southeast are also out of gas.
• The shortages are a result of a cyberattack on a pipeline that carries 45% of the East Coast’s fuel.
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The Colonial Pipeline cyberattack is prompting fuel outages throughout the southeastern US and causing fuel prices to rise.

On Friday, the ransomware group, DarkSide, demanded money in exchange for releasing the pipeline it had compromised.

The pipeline is one of the largest in the country and runs from Texas to New York, transporting about 45% of the East Coast’s fuel, the operator said.

While operation resumed manually on segments of the pipeline on Monday, the company said it expects to restart most of the operations by the end of this week, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said

The attack has led to shortages across several states. In North Carolina, some gas stations are filled with customers trying to stock up on gas, while others have already completely run out, WJZY reported.

Tom Kloza, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Oil Price Information Service, told the Los Angeles Times that some gas stations are selling “three or four times as much gasoline that they normally sell in a given day because people do panic.”

Prices have been on the rise in North Carolina and across the border in South Carolina, in some cases surging past $3 a gallon, WCNC reported.

AAA reported that national gas prices hit an average of $2.98 on Tuesday, the highest level in nearly six years.

WCNC also reported that the gas shortage is forcing airlines like American Airlines to add stops to two long-haul flights that have stops in Charlotte. A flight routed from Charlotte to Honolulu (HNL) will change aircraft in Dallas Fort Worth to conserve fuel and another that goes from Charlotte to London will add a stop in Boston to add fuel.

North Carolina declared a state of emergency as a result of the shortage on Monday, WLOS reported.

Georgia and Virginia have also declared a state of emergency, CNN reported.

Patrick De Haan, an oil analyst at Gas Buddy, reported that nearly 50% of the gas stations in Atlanta were out of gas by Tuesday night.

De Haan also reported that by Tuesday night, 9.4% of gas stations in Georgia, 7.5% of stations in South Carolina, and 14.7% in North Carolina were out of fuel.

More than 3% of Florida’s gas stations and 9.6% of Virginia’s gas stations are also out of gas.