Rigzone's regular market watchers focus on Iran nuclear deal talks, the energy market effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, pipeline damage and more.
Colonial pipeline hack exposes the vulnerability of critical infrastructure
When the Colonial pipeline system was launched in 1962, it was described as the largest privately-financed construction project in US history. Six decades later, it remains a critically important piece of national infrastructure, as the six-day shutdown caused by a ransomware hacking attack has shown.
Spanning more than 5,500 miles between Texas and New Jersey, the Colonial system carries about 2.5 million barrels a day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, transporting about 45% of all the fuel consumed on the US east coast. When it shut down last Friday, it quickly became a political issue, with Republicans making a link to Democratic climate policies, and the administration saying it was mounting an “all-of-government effort” to address the incident.