Oiltanking

2022

In February 2022, oil terminals in Europe fell victim to almost synchronous cyber attacks that affected companies in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Dozens of oil infrastructure facilities in Western European ports were under attack, which resulted in delays in the supply of fuel to traders and consumers.

The first to report the attack was the German Oiltanking, which manages 11 storage facilities with a volume of 2.375 million cubic meters in Berlin, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and 8 other cities. The company announced force majeure on February 1 and announced that its capacity is operating with a "limited" load.

The next blow was taken by the Belgian SEA-Invest, which had problems working in all ports - from Europe to Africa, including the largest terminal in Antwerp. Three more facilities, including a storage facility in Malta, were damaged by the Dutch Evos.

Due to the attack on Oiltanking, there were problems with the loading of tankers, which is carried out mainly automatically, traders working in the German market told Platts. According to them, delays in deliveries hit many large suppliers of petroleum products in Germany, although nothing critical has happened so far.

Aral, the largest gas station operator in Germany, which runs 2.3 thousand stations across the country, had to look for alternative sources of supply, Reuters writes. A Platts source suggests that the cyber attack is associated with a ransomware virus.