London — Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday it was re-routing oil supplies to other depots following a cyberattack on two subsidiaries of German logistics firm Marquard & Bahls this week.
Shell Deutschland GmbH told Reuters were able to “reroute to alternative supply depots for the time being”, a spokesperson said in a statement.
The companies, Oiltanking Deutschland GmbH and mineral oil dealer Mabanaft, were hit by an attack which disrupted its IT systems and supply chain, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Monday.
Marquard & Bahls told its business partners it was “working to solve the problem according to emergency plans,” the Handelsblatt reported.
The Hamburg-based group generated sales of 10.5 billion euros ($11.83 billion) in 2020 and employs around 6,200 people. Oiltanking owns and operates 45 terminals in 20 countries, according to the company.
Germany’s cybersecurity agency said it was offering its expertise.
“I consider this incident to be serious, but not grave,” Arne Schonbohm, president of the Federal Office for Information Security, told a news conference.
“The companies produce 1.6 million litres of fuel oil and 2.1 million litres of fuel per year… It affects 233 fuel stations in northern Germany. It is probably possibly to pay in cash,” he said.
Last year, top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline shut its entire network, the source of nearly half of the U.S. East Coast’s fuel supply, after a ransomware attack.
The incident was one of the most disruptive digital operations ever reported. Colonial Pipeline said at the time it paid hackers nearly $5 million to regain access to its systems.
The nature of the attack against Marquard & Bahls was not clear. The company did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.
($1 = 0.8873 euros)
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