"Gas Station 5-Hour Wait"... Rapidly Spreading 'US Gasoline Panic Buying'

On the 11th (local time), vehicles lined up in a long queue waiting to refuel in front of a gas station in the Charlotte area of North Carolina, USA. (Photo by AFP)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] As Colonial Pipeline, the largest pipeline operator in the United States, remains shut down for the fifth day due to a hacking attack, panic buying of gasoline is spreading across the country. With supply shortages and sudden surges in demand, gasoline prices have soared to their highest level in seven years.

On the 11th (local time), Bloomberg reported that the panic buying demand, which had driven up gasoline prices in the southern U.S., is moving northward. As supply decreases and panic buying demand overlaps, gas stations across the eastern region from Virginia to Florida are already running out of fuel stock.

The hardest hit areas are Virginia and North Carolina. According to GasBuddy, a real-time gas station information service, as of 2 p.m. (Eastern Time) that day, an estimated 7.6% of gas stations in Virginia had run out of stock. North Carolina and Georgia also saw stock depletion at 7.5% and 5.2% of stations, respectively.

The Citgo gas station located on Route 1 in Richmond, Virginia, usually a quiet place with few vehicles, saw an unending line of cars that day. An employee who has worked there for 30 years said, "We are out of stock, but we have not received a delivery schedule from suppliers," adding, "This is the first time since the Gulf War."

Many gas stations in Virginia and Maryland experienced long lines of vehicles trying to refuel throughout the day, with some drivers waiting over five hours. A gas station on Riverstone Parkway in Canton, Georgia, ran out of gasoline stock around noon that day. An employee said, "This place usually sells about 1,500 gallons a day, but yesterday alone we sold 5,000 gallons."

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said, "Retail gasoline sales are surging in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina," adding, "Demand nationwide has increased by about 20%."

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average gasoline price that day was $2.985 per gallon, the highest level in seven years since it reached $2.99 per gallon in November 2014. Colonial, which stopped due to the hacking attack, is manually operating part of the pipeline but said that full restart is expected around the weekend.

With the summer peak season approaching, the sense of crisis is intensifying. The market has already raised concerns that gasoline shortages could occur as travel demand for summer vacations revives with the expansion of vaccine distribution.

Tom Kloza, chief analyst at Oil Price Information Service (OIS), predicted in an interview with CNN at the end of last month, "Gasoline shortages could occur this summer, especially in popular vacation spots in the U.S.," adding, "There were already sporadic gasoline shortages reported during spring break in Florida, Arizona, and northwest Missouri."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.