The major US pipeline network shut down by a cyber attack said Thursday it has resumed fuel deliveries, but gas stations up and down the east coast were still facing shortages after a wave of panic buying.

Frantic motorists from Florida to Maryland continued to line up at gas stations trying to fill their tanks and other containers, sending the national average price above $3 a gallon for the first time since late 2014 despite government efforts to ease the supply crunch.

Colonial Pipeline said early Thursday said it had "made substantial progress" in resuming deliveries after announcing on Wednesday it was beginning to restart its network.

The statement said "product delivery has commenced in a majority of the markets we service. By mid-day today, we project that each market we service will be receiving product from our system."

Some lines, including those in Virginia, will not see supplies return until later in the day, the company said.

More than half of the gas stations in Virginia had run out of fuel after the rush of customers drained their tanks, according to data Thursday from the GasBuddy tracking site.

Georgia was facing similar level of shortages, but the situation had improved in many other states.

More than half of the gas stations in the US state of Virginia had run dry after a wave of panic buying, according to GasBuddy data
More than half of the gas stations in the US state of Virginia had run dry after a wave of panic buying, according to GasBuddy data AFP / Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS

"Now things are cooling off with some improvement. It will take a couple/few weeks for that improvement to get outages back to zero," GasBuddy oil analyst Patrick De Haan said on Twitter, but cautioned, "The progress may be slow."

Colonial Pipeline shut down its network following a ransomware attack on its computer systems late Friday.

The company operates the largest fuel conduit system in the United States, which sends gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the populous east coast through 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) of ducts that serve 50 million consumers.

The government has temporarily waived clean air regulations and rules on shipping and trucking to help get fuel to the affected areas quickly.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday on CNBC that President Joe Biden directed the government "to do everything we could to respond to this incident," which gave fuel suppliers flexibility.

De Haan warned that prices could stay high for some time, especially as the Memorial Day holiday weekend approaches -- the traditional start to the American summer travel season.

"The situation will definitely take time and slowly improve due to a high number of outages and higher number of stations to refuel," he said.