Colonial Pipeline Initiates Restart of Pipeline Operation; Governor Murphy admits , “Gasoline prices have crept up. Maybe you could even say more than crept up in New Jersey”

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Linden NJ, The largest gasoline pipeline in America Colonial Pipeline is returning to service, according to the company that runs it, after a cyberattack choked fuel supplies across the eastern U.S. Shortages are likely to continue for some time however, as supplies got more sparse overnight with stations as far north as New Jersey affected.

Governor Phil Murphy said in Wednesday press conferences when asked about the Colonial Pipeline shutdown , ”  Gasoline prices have crept up. Maybe you could even say more than crept up in New Jersey. I think the average price is now something like 3.04 a gallon, and that’s up.

It’s not clear that there is a direct impact of the Colonial Pipeline issues with either gas for your car or the other thing that’s on our mind is jet fuel at Newark Liberty. We’ve been in touch with the federal team on this. One point of pride and important data point is that Congressman Donald Payne is the chair of the subcommittee that oversees jurisdiction for something like this in the Homeland Security side. He’s been very valuable and continues to do a terrific job. There is some amount of human nature behavior.

I had two data points yesterday where this is real. That one data point from Virginia where my daughter is in school and one from an acquaintance in North Carolina of the family of one of my sons, they have real supply reality shortages in those states. The long lines you see are because of a supply issue. I’m knocking on wood here. Outside a general challenge of getting drivers to drive fuel trucks, it’s like a lot of other employment challenges these days. There’s a shortage there, but that’s not specific to the pipeline. We don’t, knock on wood, have a supply issue as we speak. If this goes on a long time, that may well change. You do have human nature, Elise. I don’t blame people for that.

You saw early on in the pandemic people hoarding toilet paper. Anybody who has a memory of 1973, ’74, Dave, oil embargoes and gas crises reflectively, you go out and you want to get gas and get ahead of the pack, as it were. There’s some amount of natural behavior like that. We’re monitoring this very closely. We don’t like seeing the prices go up for whatever reason.”

Meanwhile Colonial Pipeline initiated the restart of pipeline operations at approximately 5 p.m. ET. on Wednesday May 12th.

According to the company, following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal. Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period. Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal.

As we initiate our return to service, our primary focus remains safety. As part of this startup process, Colonial will conduct a comprehensive series of pipeline safety assessments in compliance with all Federal pipeline safety requirements.

This is the first step in the restart process and would not have been possible without the around-the-clock support of Colonial Pipeline’s dedicated employees who have worked tirelessly to help us achieve this milestone. We would also like to thank the White House for their leadership and collaboration, as well as the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, FBI, PHMSA, FERC and other federal, state and local agencies for their ongoing support.