Gas crunch still affecting more than a dozen states

Colonial Pipeline making ‘substantial progress’ after restarting fuel delivery

CLEMMONS, N.C. — Gas pumps remained shrouded by plastic bags Thursday at thousands of service stations across more than a dozen states, but the situation could improve as a pipeline company reported “substantial progress” in resuming operations after a computer hack led to its shutdown.

Nearly 70% of North Carolina’s gas stations Thursday were still without fuel amid panic-buying, as were about half the stations in South Carolina and Georgia, GasBuddy.com reported.

Drivers on the East Coast were also having trouble, with more than half the stations tapped out in Virginia.

Washington, D.C., was among the hardest-hit places Thursday, with 73% of stations out, the site’s tracking service showed.

“I can’t get paid until my customers get their products,” said Mary Goldburg of Norfolk,

Virginia, whose job includes delivering T-shirts for events and other promotional products.

In a Thursday update, the Georgia-based pipeline company said gasoline delivery is now underway in most of its markets.

The Colonial Pipeline, the nation’s largest fuel pipeline, stretches from Texas to New Jersey, but the Northeast has seen fewer disruptions since those states are supplied more by other sources such as ocean tankers.

Gas is flowing again across most of the Deep South, and other parts that were offline in the Mid-Atlantic region were expected to become operational by Friday.

“We are not out of the woods yet, but the trees are thinning out,” said Richard Joswick, global head of oil analytics at S&P Global Platts. He estimates that full recovery for the East Coast and Gulf Coast will take a couple of weeks at least due to lags and limits for all shipping options.

President Joe Biden said U.S. officials do not believe the Russian government was involved in the Colonial Pipeline hack, but “we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia.” The FBI has said the ransomware belonged to a criminal syndicate known as DarkSide.

In Virginia, the run on gas prompted an urgent warning Thursday that people should never siphon gasoline after calls in recent days about people being poisoned.

One man sucked gasoline into his lungs, causing distress, said Dr. Chris Holstege, medical director of the Blue Ridge Poison center at UVA Health. The man is expected to recover, Holstege said.

The governors of North Carolina and Virginia declared states of emergency to help ensure access.

“Now that Colonial has restarted pipeline operations, we will see a gradually increasing return to normal conditions that will take several days,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday.

There is no gasoline shortage, according to government officials and energy analysts, just delays in delivering the fuel from Gulf Coast refineries.