Monday, May 10, 2021
Pipeline paralyzed
Will gasoline become more expensive after a hacker attack?
In the United States, hackers shut down an important pipeline. The Americans want to compensate for the loss of production by importing crude oil from Europe. Experts fear that this will increase fuel prices in Germany.
The hacker attack on a US pipeline operator is driving up crude oil and gasoline prices and could also be felt at German gas stations. The Brent variety from the North Sea rose in price by up to 1.3 percent to 69.20 dollars per barrel (159 liters). The US oil WTI gained similarly strong to 65.75 dollars. Since it is unclear when the central pipeline to supply the US east coast can resume operations, prices for future deliveries also climbed.
According to Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch, a longer interruption would also have an impact on Europe. Missing quantities in the USA could lead to unusual gasoline deliveries from Europe to the USA: “As a result, gasoline prices could rise here too.” According to the economic data service Refinitiv, European energy traders have secured at least six tankers to bring gasoline to the US.
At the weekend, Colonial Pipeline had to shut down its entire pipe network. The operator’s entire pipeline system is almost 9,000 kilometers long. At its core, it connects refineries and oil ports on the Gulf of Mexico with the metropolitan areas on the US east coast and leads to New Jersey. Around half of the fuel for the US east coast is transported through these pipelines. More than 2.5 million barrels flow through the pipes every day. According to Colonial, fuel is flowing through some smaller pipes again. The main pipelines are still shut down. Transport by truck is no substitute given the capacity of the pipeline.
The company was attacked using so-called ransomware. A virus infects one or more computers and encrypts important data. Hackers then demand a ransom in return for the password to decrypt the data. The US government is working with Colonial to fight the hacker attack. Nothing is officially known about the authors.
“Bad boys are very skilled”
The suspects also include a criminal group called DarkSide, which operates from states of the former Soviet Union, people familiar with the case told Reuters. “Bad guys are very good at finding new ways to attack the infrastructure,” said Andrew Lipow, chief executive of Lipow Oil consulting firm. “This does not have the necessary defenses to block all the ways in which a system can be infected.” The increased distribution of fuel by tanker truck could not make up for the lost pipeline capacities, warned Neil Wilson, chief analyst of the online broker Markets.com.
Since it is unclear when the pipeline network will go back into operation, further increases in prices for petroleum products must be expected. The gasoline futures contract – that is, future shipments – rose more than four percent to a three-year high of $ 2.217 a gallon. At $ 2.0776, heating oil was as expensive as it was last year and a half.
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