US pipeline still days away from operating after cyberattack

The shutdown will hurt fuel availability, push up prices and force refiners to cut production with no way to ship gas. The privately owned Colonial Pipeline Company said on Monday it was working on restarting in phases with “the goal of substantially restoring operational service by the end of the week.” The attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which carries nearly half the fuel consumed along the United States East Coast, is one of the most disruptive digital ransom schemes ever reported. American Airlines said on Monday it has added a stop to two long-haul flights out of Charlotte, North Carolina, because of a fuel supply shortage after the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline following a ransomware cyberattack, becoming the first US airline to report the fallout from the siege. “It hasn’t hit us yet, but this is going to hurt big time.” Florida resident Katina Willey went to several gas stations before she found one that had fuel available. Citgo Petroleum Corp reduced production at its 418,000 barrel-per-day Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery “to maintain as much operational flexibility as possible” during the Colonial outage, the company said in a statement.