Washington, May 13 (IANS): The operator of a key US fuel pipeline, that was forced to shut down for six days due to a cybersecurity attack, said that it has restarted operations.

The Colonial Pipeline Company said the first step in the restart process started at approximately 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal.

"Some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions during the start-up period," said the company.

"Colonial will move as much gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel as is safely possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal," it continued.

The Colonial Pipeline Company temporarily halted all pipeline operations after the cybersecurity attack involving ransomware was detected on May 7.

The Colonial Pipeline is the largest refined-products pipeline in the US, transporting more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily on the East Coast.