Shell reroutes oil supplies after cyberattack hits two German oil companies

After a cyberattack disrupted the operations at two German oil storage and logistics companies, energy giant Shell was forced to reroute supplies to other alternative supply depots for the time being.

Two subsidiaries of German logistics firm Marquard & Bahls -- Oiltanking GmbH Group and Mabanaft Group -- discovered the cyberattack on January 29 and are struggling to respond to the cyber incident that disrupted its IT systems and supply chain. On Tuesday, a joint statement said they had launched a thorough investigation with external specialists and authorities.

The companies had hired external computer forensic specialists to discover the “full scope” of the incident. No information has been shared yet by either company regarding the nature of the attack or its perpetrators. The companies said work is being undertaken to enable them “to restore operations to normal in all our terminals as soon as possible.” Terminals of Oiltanking GmbH Group, a unit of Mabanaft, are currently operating with limited capacity.

According to Arne Schoenbohm, the head of Germany’s IT security agency, the incident was severe, “not grave.” Schoenbohm said that 1.7% of the country’s total gas stations had been impacted by the incident, making it impossible for prices to be changed or customers to pay for gas using a credit card. Cash payments were being accepted at some of the 233 affected facilities, most of which are in northern Germany.

The companies produce 1.6 million litres of fuel oil and 2.1 million litres per year. However, the industry officials claimed that the cyberattack on the two companies did not pose a threat to the country’s overall fuel supplies. Notably, the timing of the attack coincidentally aligns with Russia’s recent threat to shut off its pipelines into Europe as the crisis in Ukraine continues to erupt.