RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia’s gas price average jumped 11 cents between Monday and Wednesday, in the wake of the cybersecurity attack last week on the Colonial Pipeline and the rush of drivers yesterday flocking to stations across the state to fill up. That higher than normal demand resulted in long lines at the pumps and limited fuel availability and outages at some Virginia stations.

More than 1,000 gas stations across the south reported running out of fuel, primarily because of panic-buying among drivers.

Colonial Pipeline officials expect to have the system fully operational by the end of the week. Some smaller lateral lines between terminals on the Colonial Pipeline and delivery points are now operational, including a line which runs from Greensboro, NC to Woodbine, MD.  Colonial also began manually opening parts of the pipeline Wednesday, transporting fuel to Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and North and South Carolina.  The US DOT has issued a temporary hours-of-service exemption for tank truck drivers to help alleviate some of the current supply disruption.

Analysts say there is ample gasoline supply in the United States. It is just a matter of getting deliveries to stations to meet demand and that there is no need to panic buy or to stock up on gas in portable containers.