LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A national supply chain disruption in the east coast has many Kentuckians heading to the pumps in droves, forcing gasoline prices to tick up.

Several gas stations in Kentucky are running on short supply or running out of gas because of panic buying.

Andrew Hocker is the owner of Hocker's Lawn Care Service. He tells Spectrum News 1, "just up and down, up and down, never the same price just fluctuate a little bit on prices from Shelby County to Jefferson County."

Business owners who rely on full gas tanks to operate are feeling the pinch at the pump with gas prices increasing because of demand caused by concerns after Colonial Pipeline's cyber attack.

"Oh it hurts because the more we pay for gas the less money we make and paying the employees it takes more money out of our pockets," Hocker said.

It's not only just Hocker's vehicle, but all of his equipment that relies on gasoline. "We were paying $2.75 -$2.80, now its $3.15 a gallon, big difference," he said.

The Colonial Pipeline runs from Texas to New Jersey. According to the company, nearly half of all gas consumed on the East Coast comes from this line, which normally transports millions of gallons daily.

Hillary Stevenson, Director of Oil and Markets and Business Intelligence at Wood Mackenzie, said the cyber attack and subsequent fallout serves as a "wake up call."

"We haven’t had a lot of internet regulations over the past decade," Stevenson said. "Cybersecurity is a big hot topic and so I think that this will be a wake up call to a lot of those operators, to the energy complex as a whole on how to shore up their security against similar types of attacks."

"The tanks are sort of filling in the south and draining in the north. In fact, some refiners have booked ships as floating storage to hold product while they wait for the pipeline to be resumed," Stevenson said.

With the shutdown expected to remain short-term, experts say there are enough reserves in the region along the pipeline that supply won't be an issue. 

"We expect about 800,000 barrels a day to be hitting the U.S. East coast this week that’s the second highest weekly volume since March. So, help was already on its way which is sort of really good news because it does take 7 to 10 days to get from Europe to the U.S.," Stevenson said.

Until then, industry experts are assuring the state of Kentucky will not be impacted by the gas shortage and are warning against rushing to the pump and hoarding gasoline.

"We have plenty of gasoline supply via our normal methods. We may see some increase at the pump just due to national prices increase, but it should go back to a normal rate once those stations are able to be refueled," Stevenson added.

The federal government is taking emergency measures to respond to the pipeline incident and ensuring continuous fuel supply throughout several states.

"They’re prioritizing locations for some spur deliveries. The federal government has also lifted weight and hour requirements on semi trucks. A whole system is trying to figure out how to get as much gasoline to places who need it the most the quickest," explained Stevenson. 

Wood Mackenzie is forecasting prices to increase as gas companies transition from winter to summer blends. Also added to the surge, more people are receiving their vaccine and wanting to travel again.

"Everybody’s sort of itching to get out, go do something with the family now that we can get out and about so gasoline demand is expected to really reach or eclipse 2019 levels and that’s really driving the price of oil. 

Gov. Andy Beshear posted on social media Wednesday urging Kentuckians not to buy into fears about a possible gasoline shortage in response to the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline.