White House Declares State of Emergency in Multiple Districts due to Cyber Hacking on the Colonial Pipeline Last Week / Britain to Enter Third Phase of Relaxation of Pandemic Prevention Measures Next Monday

The White House announced that Washington, DC, where the 17 eastern states and their capitals are located, has entered a state of emergency in response to ransomware attacks. Last Friday (7th), the largest local refined oil pipeline operator (Colonial Pipeline) claimed to have been threatened and attacked by cyber hacks and had suspended the entire pipeline network. The total length of pipelines affected by the cyber-attack was about 8,850 Kilometres, transporting more than 380 million litres of fuel per day, including gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and other refined oil products, accounts for about 45% of the fuel supply on the East Coast. The “lifeblood” of US oil transportation was hacked. The market expected that the US might need to increase imports of overseas crude oil, which once drove the oil price in New York to about US$66.

British Prime Minister Johnson announced that next Monday (17th) the UK will enter the third phase of relaxation of the pandemic prevention measures. The public can participate in indoor gatherings of up to six or two families. Bars, coffee shops and restaurants can once again serve customers in theatres. Indoor entertainment venues such as sports fields can also resume operations. The market hopes that the local service industry is expected to recover further, driving the pound exchange rate to gradually challenge the level of 1.42 US dollars.