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AAA Advises Texans Against Panic-Buying Gasoline

Octavio Jones/REUTERS
X07298 A couple fills up multiple 5 gallon gas tanks at a Wawa gas station, after a cyberattack crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, run by Colonial Pipeline, in Tampa, Florida, U.S., May 12, 2021.

From Texas Public Radio:

The American Automobile Association reports the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline will have little to no impact on gasoline supplies in Texas.

AAA said the situation is temporary and there is not a shortage. There is ample gas supply in the United States, officials said, but it's a matter of getting deliveries to states to meet demand.

AAA urges against panic-buying.

Colonial has implemented a phased-in approach to bring the pipeline substantially back to full operation by the end of this week after it was targeted by hackers.

The pipeline's shutdown has caused gas prices to rise in some areas of the country. AAA reports as a state, Texas has the third lowest gas prices in the nation at $2.72.

From NPR

The White House is easing some restrictions on the shipment of fuels by truck as a growing number of gas stations run out of fuel in the Southeast and as gasoline prices hit $3 a gallon nationally.

The shortage developed after a cyberattack led to the shutdown of a major U.S. fuel pipeline, sparking widespread panic-buying from drivers worried about potential supply disruptions.

According to data from the app GasBuddy, as of Wednesday morning, at least 15% of gas stations have no gasoline in Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina, with South Carolina not far behind.

Those statewide averages don't capture the scope of the problem in certain metro areas, however, as a number of Southern cities are experiencing outages at 75% of their gas stations, or even more.

The White House on Wednesday said the Department of Transportation would allow states including Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Virginia to use interstate highways to transport "overweight loads of gasolines."