I rarely, if ever let my truck's tank drop below half a tank, but curious as to when everyone in the "affected zone" of this Colonial pipeline issue took action.  The cyber attack was 7 May.  I heard about it briefly at work (we do DoD cyber defensive operations), but it wasn't big on my radar.  We were out of town Friday night through Saturday afternoon and I didn't get a chance to really catch up until Sunday.  I don't think I really considered the gas issue until Monday, but I can get kind of insulated from new at work.  I filled up and Monday and told my wife to do the same...of course she got busy and got home that afternoon with her car on "E".  

I've been delinquent with my gas preps.  I only had 5 gallons (really just used for the lawn mower) on hand.  My 30 gallon caddy, 14 gallon transfer container, and my four 5 gallon Scepter cans were all empty.  I normally rotate during the winter months with the generator or just cycling through my truck and refilling before adding some stabilizer.  

This wasn't an immediate issue, it took a few days to develop.  It reinforces my need to really analyze these issues sooner and realize that as soon as the media starts hyping it, the panic kicks in with society.  I can't (and not willing to try) to store that much fuel, but my goal is to keep the generator running enough to get me through a couple weeks, or enough fuel to get me to work a few weeks (I expect by then, it would be a work-from-home decision).  

This is a good reminder to pay attention and get ahead of the idiot-reaction-curve of the sheep.  I have zero desire to wait an hour in line to get gas or drive to several stations because of 10-gallon limits.  I didn't get caught with my pants down, but I could have...

ROCK6

I'm wondering how much of this was an actual "ransomware" issue as opposed to a full on cyber attack that crippled the pipeline.  The date to have it up and running "as normal" has been pushed back several days in a row.  But like the OP said, people didn't pay any attention to it until the media started hyping it up.  Suddenly, everyone needed gas and stations went dry and prices went up quick.

The public utility I work for was struck with ransomware. Instead of paying they eradicated it themselves.
It took time to find it all, they had to examine every single computer (some of them were bricked) before they could turn the network back on.
Then they had to rebuild the servers, outlook, etc.
It took a couple weeks even with the help of a contractor that specializes in ransomware recovery.

I can see how it is taking them more time than they expect to fix it.

Considering how depraved the fraud was during the General Election in 2020, I would not put it past this administration to have orchestrated this crisis in order to promote their zero petroleum energy by 2035 goal. Colonial could have easily been hacked by NSA or CIA or any of our other very capable alphabet agencies. Hell, our Secretary of Energy today laughed at non-electric car owners who are affected by this. Laughed. She fucking laughed at us. Bitch.

I have been keeping an eye on it but am pretty far north and our area is currently unaffected.  My fear is a ripple effect of demand pulling supply from areas that don't need it as much, but once one gas station in an AO puts up a sign that they are out I am sure the runs start quick.  I always keep gas on hand and rotate in my powersports, and utility items.  My regular supply was one 5 gallon can down as I just topped some things off so I figured it wouldn't hurt to plus back up and top my truck from 1/2 to full.  Wifes Jeep is full too so we are good should our AO have any issues in the next couple days.

Let my membership lapse!

I swear I posted a thread on stocking up gas at $1.50 a gallon.... I'm mowing my lawn for $3 a week instead of $6. I've only got about 80 gallons left. So glad I spent the money....

This run on gas is just like south Florida when it all of a sudden hits the masses that they have to buy any gas in the next 2 days when a storm is 5 days out.  A switch flips overnight it seems.

I use a lot of gas and diesel and usually top gas one month and diesel the next with a little more than four months worth on hand.  Unscheduled refill after topping the SxS generator etc yesterday needed 40 gallons of non-corn.  Topped the tractors last night and took the already empties in to work today, about 30 gallons diesel.  If I hadn’t gotten either of those I would have still been good for 2-3 months of normal usage but it’s still cheap right now and this will let me skip what I figure will be high prices until this blows over...at least that’s my hope.

I top my vehicles off frequently. I also keep my lawn mower and power sports equipment full as well. Further, I keep 7 NATO cans full of gas and 4 more full of diesel (for the tractor and generator). I try to keep the tractor and generator full too.

I rotate the gas and diesel over time. I use more in the summer than in the winter so summer gas is usually what’s in the gas cans.

Between three vehicles, the mower and power sports equipment, we probably have as much as 125 gallons of gas in vehicles and storage.....sometimes less if we let a tank get a little lower than I prefer. We usually fill at or above the half way point. Given events of today, I had a 5 gallon can to fill so I also topped off my truck tank.

I'm not in the affected area.  I had gotten lax about refilling my Jerry cans after dumping my Winter gas in my truck.  A week before the attack I finally went to the pure gas station I found near my house and ponied up $4.67/gallon for 91 octane pure gas.  I had never purchased pure gas before but always wanted to.  There was a bit of sticker shock, but a week later (after the event) I was feeling rather smug even though it was just dumb luck.

This is partly my point.  I got a little too complacent, but there were definite warning signs (even here) before the public went ape shit.  I heard about getting gas on Saturday, I think.  I was just too busy with the boy getting commissioned and graduating, the wife trying to keep her mom busy while she visited (to include going to concert Friday night and getting home late Saturday).  Life can easily consume your attention (not that it's a bad thing if disciplined).  I had opportunities that I missed and while it doesn't seem to be drastic, it could have been.

This was a cyber attack that just affected IT/controls/automations.  While critical for operations, there wasn't any structural damage.  I was simply thinking that if some enterprising "green" terrorists destroyed several sections of pipeline, this disaster would have been far greater...and that's what I expect in the future.  

This was a regional disruption, but I think many across the country will feel the effects of higher prices and potentially less supply for redistribution.  So, while paying attention to the main supply sources for whatever "essential" affects your immediate area, pay attention to other regional disruptions.

Add in a very hostile government and even a minor disruption can cascade to into an even greater disaster.  My MIL is from Panama City, FL and is driving back this morning.  No issues for fuel in their area as it comes in by barge.  Ironically, new regulations on transporting fuel by truck are affecting distribution from that area to areas supplied by the pipeline over in eastern FL.  This government and administration is taking their old saying of "never let a crisis go to waste" to the next level of "how can we make a crisis even more painful and worse for the public?".  

Lesson Learned.  Stay on top of current events, assess your preparations and fix any gaps.  If something happens like this again, you will likely have a couple of days before the mass hysteria of the media and public really impact the supply and demand.  Don't get complacent and spend a little more effort forecasting effects so you can take the appropriate actions and not get stuck needing or even wanting.  Now I'm slightly pissed as I will likely have to fill my fuel storage with jacked up prices...the price for complacency is always more expensive...  

ROCK6

I’m in the northeast and from the initial reports I was technically in the problem zone.  In my experience the first problem in a crisis is the quality of the information available.  That’s compounded by the fact that problems rarely fully reveal themselves at first blush.  I heard about it late Friday and topped off Saturday Morning.  Why not?  I don’t consider that panicky, I consider it prudent.  

Question everything. This is planned scarcity. Their playbook has become so predictable it's embarrassing.

This.  You can't just turn everything back on, even if the ransomeware goes away - because you have to inspect everything in detail; to assure no reinfection.  Even when they pay, it takes a while to get rolling again.

Also, I'd be curious how many of the companies that say FU and NO PAY.  Actually quietly paid.

They admit that they probably spent more to eradicate than the ransom $1.6m

I had a similar disruption when I lived in Dallas Texas, but had stocked up on a few good quality jerry cans before it all happened, so I was still able to go to work when others couldn't. Now I'm in a position i COULD work from home but don't need to yet. I also fill at 1/2 or even a 3 quarters, but there's a nice station right across from where I pick up my kids and I'd rather pay $25 4x than $100 once even though I know it's the same amount of money.

I was away on vacation over the weekend and only got back monday, but I have 25 gallons on reserve and my truck was mostly full (took the wife's mini van). All the stations around me are boarded up, roped off, or otherwise fucked. I'm in Marietta. I can go probably 2 weeks if I cut out "extra" trips and I have calmed down on my speed a bit. I plan on filling when/how I can until it settles down.

I don't use gas for lawn stuff so what I have is just inverter generator and emergency use. I buy premium and cycle it through. Bought this batch at Christmas so I'm not worried about the age. I am thinking about picking up another set of cans, much to the dismay of my wife, I'm sure.

Also considering converting the generator to propane but since we don't cook on gas anymore I don't have the "reason" to have the half dozen tanks I used to.

by luck I gassed up one vehicle last Sunday and haven't driven it since.
Another vehicle is right at 1/2 full now.

Decided not worth it to fight the long lines, etc to top off the 1/2 full vehicle.   Hopefully gas will be back to normal Monday or so.  
I have 1 gallon of spare gas in garage for the lawn mower

Probably need better preps too

I keep 20 - 25 gallons (I use it for the mower so it varies) on hand all the time but I’ve got a set of empty NATO cans around so I can double my reserve if I think I need to.  25 is about all I normally want at the house (I think it’s the law) but I don’t mind bumping it up short term.  It’s for weather events mostly, which usually give a little warning.  It used to be mostly blizzards but now that Al Gore invented climate change I guess its hurricanes too.  I’ll fill up before the storm and use it up in the truck if nothing happens.

I made sure the gas was topped off in my car Friday, and my wife's Saturday. I keep gas in cans for the generators, but I have enough on hand to get both cars from empty to full once over. I keep a stash of of octane booster around in case the gas gets a bit stale. I also picked up some ethanol free 4 cycle gas from the hardware store in case I needed to get the generators moving if it was a wider attack on the energy sector. (our local power plants run on NG.)

Why do you have so many empty gas containers?

When rotating, I decide when it's time to use the old gas. Pour it in the vehicles and immediately go and refill them, so I'm never potentially out of gas. A statewide power outage could knock out all services and I'd still have gas stored just in case. All empty containers do is take up space.

The fix for stale gas is to add volatile fractions back in after they've evaporated. Octane booster does the opposite; it reduces the volatility when you want to increase it.



OP, at some point even the best prepper will encounter a situation that leaves him/her feeling like he/she was caught with their pants down. It happens. Like many I'm left wondering why you had cans that were mostly empty, but full honesty, it happens, it happens to all of us. Take this lesson and learn from it.


And not to rub anyone's nose in it but fuel preps are one thing I take seriously. We are SO dependent on fuel for transportation and backup electricity that I cannot afford to not take it seriously. I have enough gas/diesel in deep storage to provide a year+ of electricity if I'm careful and I don't have to tap into it for transportation too much.

My excuse is complacency.  I have one 5 gallon can I use for the zero turn.  My son "borrowed" some gas a while back and I have several empty containers in the barn.  

I fully agree, and that's usually what I do.  I'll rotate gas into the vehicles and then go fill them up.  Once filled and stored, there's no additional cost other than effort as you'll be filling your vehicle and paying for rotating that gas back into your storage inventory.  

The writing is on the wall.  This administration is radical and hates fossil fuels and the freedom movement of citizens using gas-powered vehicles.  I expect more disruptions, either from physical attacks froms environmentalists/terrorists, cyber-attacks from MCAs, or manufactured crisis and media propaganda to induce hysteria...it's going to happen again and likely a few times for this administration.

I plan to be topped off again before the end of the month.

ROCK6

I was able to fill my tank last weekend before things got silly.
I'm in central Florida and we don't even get gas from the pipeline, buy people still went nuts over it.
I have several 5 gal empty cans at home, just no good place to store them if filled.

I’m in NOVA and this place is crazy. When I first heard about it (before it became the story of the week) I went and pretty much immediately topped off both vehicles that night.

Been topping off as I am able.

I always try to keep 15 gallons on hand for what ever and use it up periodically with mowing.

This whole thing got the family’s attention and now we are ordering cans to have enough for one complete tank fill up per vehicle. With a cycling plan of every six months.

No telling what going to happen with potato heads next decision so one full tanks worth of gas will enable middle of the night bugout and extend my range to probably 1400 miles one way.

Panic is !like a disease. Here in EWA, gas jumped 20-25cents A gallon. I went to Wal-Mart an people bought out fuel cans in minutes, one guy had 7 5gl cans. I was picking up some stabill, that was completely stocked, guess no one had thought of that. Just kinda weird, as our gas supplies don't come from that area of the US.

So interesting data point. We live in a small rural town far from an interstate.  These went up today on the pumps.
Attached File


Guess it’s gonna get worse before it gets better as the rural communities get sacrificed for the cities? Good AAR point but not totally unexpected.

1st, congrats on your son’s commissioning. Way to go, and welcome to the Army. Essayons.

2nd, I wonder if we are going to have as much time to react the next time. I did make sure we filled up based on the alert here (thanks ARFCOM) but I’m willing to bet a lot of people have had their blinders pulled aside and will rush to the station the next time the alert goes up.

I also learned coastal SC and GA get our gas via the ports, but NC does not. Interesting knowledge point.

Congrats again to ROCK16.

I did just go check my stash because of this thread. Uhh, waaaay overdue to rotate. Marked with a 2019 date. Oops

Also placed another order with Atlantic British... damn you, you’re costing me money again.

I am definitely in the affected zone.

My biggest takeaway is that social media drives the general public.

This was national news over the weekend. State of emergency declared in 18 states. Yawn. I mentioned it to my wife and she started typing everything off. No issues.

Tuesday morning I filled up at 0930, only one at the pump.

While there had been a little bit of chatter on FB over the weekend about the gas crisis in other areas, it popped up on local people’s feeds after lunch Tuesday.

By 1600, stations were either out or had excessive lines. People were filling everything they could.

In three hours or so, social media drove a panic and artificial shortage.

I believe it was Tuesday night that the pipeline owners said “don’t worry, we’ll have this running soon.” Not that it was running, but it will be soon. That was the big media story.

Wednesday morning, only 43% of the local stations had gas (I did a survey of all the gas stations in town) - no lines, no panic.

Today it’s a little over half with gas, and likely to be just regular now. Only a twenty cent jump in price.

But, it sure appears that most people get their news and info from Facebook, and that’s significant.

Gassed up one of my vehicles that was at 1/2 way mark at a local BJ's.  No long lines either.

They didn't have 93 octane though just 87

Because I have 10 Scepter cans.  Empty, I can stack them in a corner and not take up a large footprint.

For me, I usually have 1 filled for the mower/ATV.  In winter I'll usually add  2nd.  If weather forecast looks sketchy I may go up to 25 gallons (enough for 1 full vehicle refill).  I don't like storing that much in my garage typically.

My commute is 30 miles one way, but I only work 6 shifts a month.  Wife has same drive, 10 days a month, so we don't go through it too fast in the vehicles.

When this happened,  I topped off 4 cans, even though we're no where near the area of impact, mostly because I anticipate a short term bump in price.  It'll likely get us through June.

I’m to the point I just want to make sure I can fill my truck at least one full tank and my wife’s car a couple times.  At least we won’t have to deal with idiocy for a couple weeks at the most.  I have more important things I would rather do than spend a few hours chasing available gas and getting in line for an hour or two…



Thanks!  He’ll take his second oath next week as a member of his city’s police department and was already tagged to eventually get on their SWAT team (which is really only a three or four man, part-time team).  He doesn’t go to the academy until July and the guy he’s assigned to send they’ll spend a bunch of time at the range…the boy is happy as am I (as it’s not my ammo he’s shooting!).  He probably won't get an Infantry BOLC date until next spring from everything he's heard.

Your second point is a good question. I think the public, in general, are short-sighted, procrastinators, lazy, and routinely forget the last crisis in just a few weeks.  That said, I think a few more Americans are starting to pay attention to events like these and will assume the worst.  While ARFCOM first reported on the potential for fuel shortages as early as that Friday morning (Thursday being the reported cyber-attack), it took until the following Tuesday before I saw people over-reacting; that time will likely be shortened and the severity of the incident will impact it as well.  Bottom line, ARFCOM has pretty good intel, but you still have to make your own assessment and action to avoid the masses if you aren’t prepared in that particular area.



While I think the MSM is still complicit, the majority of lemmings really only pay attention to their social media feeds.  The exact same thing happened with TP last year.  I could have sworn, all I saw about TP shortages initially, were on your typical social media…and then the news stations picked up on it as a story.  The best early-warning system right now is ARFCOM (and a few others like Reddit).  Most local stories are found there before the national media picks them up and then the political panic that utilizes social media to hyper-inflate the issue.  More importantly, as we are more and more interconnected, events happening well outside your region or even globally, impact several factors of our economy and local supplies or even generate riots.



It was, but I also suspect this quickly become a political/activist opportunity as well.  Our current administration thrives on turbulence, chaos, emotions, and scare tactics.  Any and every opportunity to take even a minor, regional incident and blow it up is how they operated; I expect more in the future.

ROCK6

Good post and this point in particular is spot on.

I've always thought that I was sortof prepared, until the COVID fiasco hit. I realized that I was quite unprepared and began analyzing how to change that. My biggest change has been that now being prepared has become habit, a lifestyle. I'm not a prepper zealot, but I will be much more able to deal with whatever crisis the leftists throw at us in the future.

It was very media driven.  I found it comical that even a few people in Houston were panic buying despite the fact that the Colonial being down meant that we had a glut of gasoline available here.

a more pragmatic look... high humidity and ambient air temps here in Florida pose somewhat a unique problem... most fuel pumps are cooled by the gasoline in the tank so I try to never let the tank get below 1/2...empty volume in the tank is filled with moisture laden air, which can condense out and settle to the bottom causing additional problems.... strategically we are a month away from the Atlantic Tropical Storm Season, so it is time to rotate the stored 15 or so gallons not used by the mower...after 60+ years living on the west coast of Florida, and multiple dealings with last minute panic buying prior to an approaching storm, I really try to stay aware of fuel level...

the Colonial issue did not really appear to cause a problem here on the west coast of Fla

You probably get gas from the ports. We had some stations run out because of the rush but they were back quickly. Most of coastal GA and SC get fed via the ports, not the pipeline. Inland, not so much.

Eagle 46 .... you are correct about our POL supply line

Topped off both cars same day. It didnt affect us other than price of gas went up.

Yeah, I'm waiting on my four Waivan cans and once those are filled I'll have just over 100 gallons which is enough to get us through power outages and two weeks of avoiding gas stations if the wife and I still have to drive to work.  It's not perfect, but it was a lapse in my preps I had ignored and while we didn't have any significant shortages, if we did, it could have been a little more painful.  

ROCK6

Non event for who?  You? Given the information you have provided in this thread and in the past, of course it was a non event…..for you.  You’ve clearly got plenty of stored fuel AND are retired so do you really HAVE to drive anywhere if you don’t want to?

Many others in the affected areas HAD to go to work and to do so, they needed gas. Sure it was worse in the 70s gas crunch. Saying so doesn’t make a current gas crunch any less bad to someone today. No gas or long gas lines suck no matter if it’s the 70s or 2021.

That’s kind of the point of this thread….have stored fuel (in a good storage method) so you can weather supply disruptions.

Where I live we were unaffected by the recent gas shortage. It was nice. But, I still keep stored fuel because one day that shortage may be mine to deal with. If it is, I don’t care what it was like in the 70s….I care what it’s like today…..and it’s my problem to deal with now. I can learn from the 70s (and have because my dad talks about the gas shortages of the 70s and how they dealt with it….side note: dad says he really wished he had more fuel cans at the time) but the problems of the 70s aren’t mine to deal with. Today’s problems and future problems are mine to deal with.

It was, for the most part, a minor or not too painful of an issue for some.  It was however, a good reminder to assess certain supplies, namely fuel (it is now hurricane season).  It could easily be a two or three of the five plants that produce diesel get a cyber attack or even a physical enviro-whack-terrorist attack.  That would disrupt more than just POV or generator fuel stocks.  I meant this more as a personal, introspective assessment whether affected or not.  If you're good, your good.  If you could have done better (like me), now is the time to make the corrections.  I suspect more upheaval over the summer and heading into 2022 be it inflation, deflation, certain shortages, market fluctuations, power outages, draught issues, etc.  If you have a gap or an area you want to reinforce, now is the time to budget and prioritize for it.

ROCK6

Even after Hurricane Sandy in NY, if electric was on, Diesel was there.  No gas available almost everywhere!  

Friends who had diesel trucks would pull out to watch some idiot get excited and drive up behind them to fill their gas tank with diesel

Bill