ASHEBORO N.C. (ACME NEWS) – Gas stations are struggling to keep gas in stock after a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline sparked rumors of a shortage leading to panic buying.
On Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an Executive Order declaring a state of emergency in North Carolina and suspending motor vehicle fuel regulations to guarantee the state has adequate fuel supply.
This whole situation situation started after a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline last Friday. The pipeline is respnsible for transporting around 45% of the fuel for the east coast of the United States, had to shut down after finding ransomware on some of its computers.
On Monday, the FBI confirmed that DarkSide, a cybercriminal hacking group believed to be based in Russia, was responsible for the attack but said the investigation was ongoing.
Still shut down Tuesday morning, the pipeline is a primary fuel source in North Carolina. No information was available from Colonial Pipeline as their website was offline Tuesday. The operator of the pipeline said it hopes to have services mostly restored by the end of the week.
Government officials are urging the public not to “panic-buy”, which only worsens the shortage. Tuesday morning the website GasBuddy.com which tracks gas prices and shortages showed the majority of gas stations in Randolph county had fuel in stock.
However, as of 1 p.m. on Tuesday the Sheetz in Asheboro was out of all but premium and diesel and pumps at Speedway on E Dixie Dr were bagged up.
Most managers we spoke to said that new shipments of fuel would be arriving tomorrow. One manager who asked not to be named said that they had ordered the normal amount of gasoline but “customers who are scared of a shortage, coming in and panic buying were themselves creating a shortage”.
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