Name and location
Keystone pipeline Gulf Coast expansion (Keystone XL) project, Canada and the US.

Client
TransCanada Corporation (TransCanada).

Project description
The project will enable Canadian and US oil producers to have more access to the large refining markets in the American Midwest and along the US Gulf Coast.

The project proposes a 1 897 km, 36” diameter crude oil pipeline, beginning in Hardisty, Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska, in Canada and the US respectively. This pipeline is a critical infrastructure project for the energy security of the US.

Along with transporting crude oil from Canada, the Keystone XL pipeline will also support the significant growth of crude oil production in the US from producers in the Bakken region of Montana and North Dakota.

The pipeline will have capacity to transport 830 000 bbl/d of oil to Gulf Coast and Midwest refineries, reducing American dependence on oil from Venezuela and the Middle East by up to 40%.

Value
$8-billion.

Duration
TransCanada expected to have the pipeline in service by 2015, but it has been delayed.

Latest developments
TransCanada has formally requested arbitration over US President Barack Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, seeking $15-billion in damages, the company has said in legal papers.

Obama rejected the cross-border crude oil pipeline last November, seven years after it was first proposed, saying it would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to the US economy.

TransCanada submitted a notice for an arbitration claim in January and had then tried to negotiate with the US government to "reach an amicable settlement", the company said in files posted on the pipeline's website.

"Unfortunately, the parties were unable to settle the dispute," the company noted.

TransCanada said it then filed its formal arbitration request under North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) provisions, seeking to recover what it said were costs and damages.

In a separate legal action, TransCanada is suing the US in federal court in an attempt to reverse the pipeline's rejection.

Nafta, whose arbitration provisions allow for companies to challenge governments before international panels, has been a target of recent anti- free-trade sentiments in the US.

The heads of Nafta members Canada, the US and Mexico, were expected to meet in Ottawa for a North American leaders' summit on June 29.

Canada was supposed to host the meeting early last year but cancelled it amid tension between then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Obama over the Keystone XL pipeline.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Keystone XL has been delayed, owing to the rejection of TransCanada’s application for a permit to build and operate the project.

Contact Details for Project Information
TransCanada, tel +1 866 717 7473 or email keystone@transcanada.com.