Don't Panic Buy Gas In NC Unless 'You Really Need It': Cooper

NORTH CAROLINA — Less than one day after restarting operations, markets served by Colonial Pipeline, including the Charlotte metro, will begin receiving product, the company said Thursday morning.

The Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline Company — which provides roughly 45 percent of all fuel consumed on the east coast to more than 50 million Americans — was the victim of a cybersecurity attack on Friday, ultimately halting its operations.

As of Thursday morning, an estimated 68 percent of gas stations in North Carolina were still without gas, about three percent less than reported Wednesday, according to GasBuddy.

News of the pipeline restart prompted a plea from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for drivers in the state to curb the desire to buy more gas than needed as stations get back up and running.

"Colonial Pipeline has just initiated a restart of its pipeline operations which is good news for North Carolina," Cooper said Wednesday evening. "We will continue to work with federal and local officials to strengthen our fuel distribution as we move forward. This news is another reason people do not need to panic buy gas right now unless they really need it."

Colonial Pipeline said it initiated the restart of pipeline operations at 5 p.m. Wednesday. By Thursday morning, it reported "substantial progress" in delivering gas to the majority of its markets. "By mid-day today, we project that each market we service will be receiving product from our system," the company said in a statement.

While the restart is indeed good news, getting North Carolina gas stations back online will be far from instantaneous, according to one analyst.

Drivers should expect "7-14 days of headaches" when it comes to getting gas in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

"Just ahead of Memorial Day weekend or so, finding gasoline shouldn't require too much," De Haan said. "You may occasionally find a station without fuel, but outages should be [less than 20 percent] by then in all areas."

Kathleen Sturgeon, Patch Staff, contributed

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