For several days, two companies belonging to the oil group Marquard & Bahls, based in Hamburg, fight against cyberattacks. Systems fuel supply Oiltanking terminals were affected. In Germany, Shell service stations “operate with limited capacity”.
Petrol supply is crippled and Shell service stations are impacted
Shell is trying to minimize disruption by switching to other suppliers, but supply difficulties are very real. A spokesperson for Oiltanking said in a press release that: “on January 29, 2022, our computer systems were hacked. We immediately took steps to strengthen the security of our systems and processes and launched an investigation into the matter. The competent authorities and independent experts are supporting us in solving this problem.”.
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The Marquard & Bahls group, which owns the Oiltanking group, specifies that despite the supply difficulties, the firm continues “to operate all terminals in all global markets”. Skytanking, another division of the group which supplies kerosene to airports, which currently operates at 70 airports in Europe, South Africa and India, was also affected by the recent cyberattack. The companies said they were “committed to solving the problem and minimizing the impact as quickly and efficiently as possible”.
The circulation of tanker trucks is disrupted
Since Oiltanking’s loading and unloading systems are mostly automated, the circulation of tanker trucks that supply some service stations in the country is disrupted. The German group specifies that the supply is currently only possible in a “limited and manual measurement”. While this has yet to be confirmed, several experts have issued the hypothesis that this attack could be ransomware. An investigation is underway.
A case which obviously recalls that of the Colonial Pipeline in May 2021. An oil pipeline which extends over 8,000 kilometers and which supplies 45% of US East Coast oil between Texas and New York. It can transport up to 3 million barrels of fuel per day. On May 7, the Colonial Pipeline Company learned that it had been the victim of ransomware. The Colonial Pipeline admitted to paying hackers $4.4 million, to regain control of computer systems.