Now is the time of year when gas prices typically go up, but some are afraid they will go even higher due to a cyberattack on a major pipeline.

The pipeline that provides a couple million barrels of gasoline a day from Texas all the way to New Jersey is shut down.

Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, halted operations last week after revealing a ransomware attack that it said had affected some of its systems.

News 12 reached out to the experts at Gas Buddy to find out whether people should be worried about this cyber-attack leading to gas prices skyrocketing.

They say short answer is no.

Even though the Colonial Pipeline goes from Texas to New Jersey, Patrick De Haan, from Gas Buddy, says it's really the Southeast United States that could face the shortage.

He says that the supply in the Northeast, including in New York, is actually quite substantial.

Other industry experts say New York can easily get gasoline shipped from Europe, and there are other backup plans to make it easier to transport barrels of oil.

De Haan says the other reason New Yorkers shouldn't be concerned yet is that Colonial Pipeline says they hope to be up and running by the end of the week.

"A little bit of patience can go a long way. Avoiding taking your car out and avoiding hoarding gas the sun is going to rise tomorrow. We can get through it a lot easier than the onset of the pandemic with toilet paper," says De Haan.

De Haan says people should all follow this story and monitor to see when everything is back up and running.

If you are worried about prices, News 12 can find you the best spots in the Hudson Valley - and you can add your favorites, too!

https://westchester.news12.com/415news-12-pump-patrol-finds-lowest-gas-prices-in-the-hudson-valley

Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.