Colonial Pipeline restarting operation ‘went well overnight’

ATLANTA — The process of restarting Colonial Pipeline’s operations after a devastating cyberattack is going well, according to the energy secretary.

Jennifer Granholm tweeted Thursday morning that the process overnight “went well” and expects that things will return to normal by the end of the weekend.

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On Wednesday, Gov. Kemp held a news conference on the progress of the gas outage in Georgia.

As of Thursday morning, about half of the gas station in Georgia are without fuel and in metro Atlanta, 71% are out of gas, according to GasBuddy.com.

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Alpharetta-based Colonial Pipeline was hit by a cyberattack last weekend and was forced to shut down its system.

Hackers hit the pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, with ransomware and demanded money to release the computers. The hackers didn’t take control of the pipeline operations, but Colonial shut the pipeline down to contain the damage.

[READ: Cybersecurity experts say pipeline attack should be a ‘wake-up call’ for everyone]

Colonial initiated the restart of pipeline operations late Wednesday, saying in a statement that “all lines, including those lateral lines that have been running manually, will return to normal operations.”

But it will take several days for deliveries to return to normal, the company said.

Gov. Kemp urged Georgians to remain calm and not to hoard gas.

[READ: US agency warns ‘do not fill plastic bags with gasoline’]

“Please do not go out and fill up every 5-gallon can that you have. Doing so will only mean the shortage will last longer and more Georgians will be unable to make it to work, take their kids to school or get to their medical appointment,” Kemp said.

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Gov. Kemp updates on how Georgia is responding to Colonial pipeline issues

Cox Media Group