U.S. declares state of emergency over Colonial pipeline shutdown

The U.S. government declared a state of emergency on Sunday (May 9) in response to a ransomware attack that forced Colonial Pipeline to shut a critical fuel network supplying populous eastern states, according to the statement of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The move lifted various limits on the transport of fuels by road to ease the fallout from the continuing closure of the Colonial pipeline, which carries almost half the fuel consumed on the U.S. East Coast, following a ransomware cyberattack on Friday.

"This Declaration addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products and provides necessary relief," the Department of Transportation said.

The states of Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia have all been affected.

The attack is one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes reported and has prompted calls from American lawmakers to strengthen the protection of critical U.S. energy infrastructure against hacking attacks.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the pipeline fix was a top priority for the Biden administration and Washington was working to avoid more severe fuel supply disruptions by helping Colonial restart its more than 8,850-kilometer pipeline network from Texas to New Jersey as quickly as possible.

U.S. gasoline futures jumped more than 3 percent to $2.217 a gallon, the highest since May 2018, as trading opened for the week and market participants reacted to the closure.

(Source: CGTN)