The estimated number of metro Atlanta service stations without fuel shrank to 41% Thursday afternoon, nearly two weeks after the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline.
Statewide, 31% of gas stations were without fuel, a slight decline from Wednesday, according to the crowdsourcing app GasBuddy.
Supply is continuing to slowly rebound after the Alpharetta-based Colonial Pipeline restarted its operations May 12 following a ransomware attack that U.S. officials believe was carried out from Russia.
The company had shut down its distribution network, which supplies about 45% of the East Coast’s gas, diesel and jet fuel, on May 7. News outlets reported this week that Colonial Pipeline paid hackers a $4.4 million ransom to resume control of its computer systems.
“I know that’s a highly controversial decision,” Joseph Blount, the company’s chief executive, told The Wall Street Journal this week in his first public comments since the hack. “I didn’t make it lightly…But it was the right thing to do for the country.”
A spokeswoman at AAA said the average price for a gallon of gas was $2.95 statewide, down three cents from what Georgians paid a week ago. In metro Atlanta, Thursday’s average held steady at $3.00 a gallon. Prices initially rose sharply after the pipeline shutdown.
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