Colonial Pipeline's gasoline line likely shut until Friday

Colonial Pipeline's main U.S. gasoline artery is expected to be shut through Friday as the company continues to search for the source of a suspected leak in Paulding County, Georgia, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Line 1, one of two mainlines on the more than 5,500-mile Colonial system, was shut on Monday night after Colonial received reports of a gasoline release and began investigating. The pipeline moves gasoline from Texas to North Carolina and was earlier expected to resume service on Tuesday night, according to market sources.

"Colonial continues on-site work to identify the source of the suspected release on our gasoline pipeline," a Colonial spokesperson said on Wednesday. "At this time, we estimate that Line 1 will remain down through Friday," they added.

That timeline puts the outage on par with a high-profile 2021 cyberattack that forced the entire Colonial network to shut down. During that attack, the company's mainlines were out for about a week, leaving gas stations empty and lifting fuel prices in multiple cities along the East Coast.

Shippers will be informed if there are any changes to the timeline for Line 1's restart, the Colonial spokesperson said, adding that the company is