U.S. energy infrastructure "soft underbelly" highlights

Source: China Energy News

Reporter: Li Limin

On May 13, the critical fuel network on the eastern coast of the United States, which had been shut down for nearly a week, finally resumed operations.

Gas stations in many states along the east coast are "empty"

On May 7, Colonial Pipeline was forced to shut down its key fuel network for fuel supply in the eastern coastal states of the United States due to a ransomware attack.

According to multiple foreign media reports, during the nearly a week that the gateway under the Colonial Pipeline was shut down, there were long queues in front of some gas stations in Washington, DC, and the supply of fuel was in short supply.

It is understood that the total length of the oil pipeline under the Colonial Pipeline is 8,851 kilometers, and it is responsible for about 45% of the fuel supply in the east coast of the United States.

After the fuel shortage in the United States, the benchmark price of gasoline futures in the United States rose sharply for a while, exceeding $3 per gallon at one time, a record high in the past six years.

On May 13, Colonial Pipeline announced that it had paid hackers a cryptocurrency ransom of nearly $5 million, and then the entire fuel transportation pipeline resumed operations.

American research institutions have pointed out that this attack is "the most devastating attack on energy infrastructure known to have occurred in the United States.

It will take a few days for the fuel supply to fully recover

Bloomberg reported that in order to alleviate the fuel shortage on the east coast of the United States, the U.

However, even so, distant water is difficult to put out a nearby fire.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a US energy industry research organization, pointed out that apart from Colonial Pipeline's pipeline network, there are no other ways to transport oil in these areas of the United States.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm issued a statement on the 11th, stating that Colonial Pipeline plans to first resume normal operations of its company and is expected to resume fuel transportation in a few days.

After the oil pipeline company announced the resumption of operations, a White House spokesperson said in a statement that the current fuel supply interruption has been brought under control.

Michael Tran, an analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, pointed out that the restoration of pipeline operations is only the beginning of the solution to the crisis.

The reliability of energy infrastructure has been questioned

Although the tension has eased, the fragility of the US fuel supply system has also been exposed.

　　In February 2020, the U.

　　Senator Edward Markey, the Democratic Party of Massachusetts, issued a statement after the incident, stating that due to the US "Transportation Security Administration is understaffed and insufficiently prepared, there are always risks in the energy transportation sector in the United States.

　　Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, said that the cyber intrusion showed that in the upcoming infrastructure spending plan of Congress, "strengthening critical infrastructure" should be put at the first and center position.

　　The Director of the International Energy Agency, Birol, also issued a comment after the incident, saying that the malware's attack on US oil companies shows that network resilience is essential to the security of energy supply.