Washington [US] May 12, (ANI): The US local media reported on Wednesday that there is a shortage in fuel as a major pipeline is facing a shutdown due to a cyberattack from last week.

More than 1,000 gas stations in the United States have been hit with fuel shortages, US media reported on Wednesday.

According to Sputnik, the Colonial Pipeline, which carries about 45 per cent of the fuel consumed on the US East Coast, was hit by a cyberattack last Friday, resulting in the pipeline shutdown and a rise in gas prices.

Most of the pipeline work resumed on Monday, and the company expects to restore almost all operations by the end of the week, the newspaper said, adding that the US government had to temporarily suspend a number of environment-related standards to help the fuel market.

According to the outlet, long lines of cars began gathering in gas stations in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia on late Tuesday, while S&P's Oil Price Information Service confirmed the number of stations reporting shortages of fuel to exceed 1,000, as reported by Sputnik.

According to S&P analyst Tom Kloza, many of the shortages occur because gas stations are "selling three or four times as much gasoline that they normally sell in a given day because people do panic."

The US Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an emergency fuel waiver to help eliminate shortages in DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the wake of the attack on the pipeline. The measure will remain in effect through May 18.

Earlier this month, a ransomware cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline had prompted the US government to issue an emergency declaration on the East and Gulf Coasts with an exemption for road fuel transportation.

On Friday, Colonial Pipeline said that it was temporarily halting all pipeline operations and was taking some systems offline to contain the threat from the cyberattack. The Department of Energy was tasked with leading the federal investigation. (ANI)

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