Keystone pipeline Gulf Coast expansion project, Canada and the US

28th February 2014

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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

Client
TransCanada Corporation (TransCanada)

Project description
The Keystone XL pipeline project will allow Canadian and US oil producers more access to the large refining markets found in the American Midwest and along the US Gulf Coast.

The project proposes a 1 897 km, 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline, beginning in Hardisty, in Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska, in the US. 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
$5.3-billion.

Duration
TransCanada expects to have the pipeline in service by 2015.

Latest developments
TransCanada has welcomed the US Department of State’s latest environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The report’s conclusions are consistent with results contained in more than 15 000 pages of detailed scientific analysis in four previous environmental reviews of Keystone XL, dating back to the spring of 2010.

The agency made no recommendation in its report on whether US President Barrack Obama should grant or deny an application by the company to build the pipeline, who in January 2012 rejected TransCanada’s application for a permit to build and operate the Keystone XL pipeline.

While the report offered some solace to climate activists who want to stem the rise of oil sands output, the State Department noted that blocking the construction of the Keystone pipeline, or any pipeline, would do little to slow the expansion of Canada’s vast oil sands, maintaining the central finding of preliminary study issued in 2013.

The report’s publication opens a new and potentially final stage of an approval process that has dragged on for more than five years, taking on enormous symbolic political significance and looming over Obama’s environmental and economic legacy.

With another three-month review process ahead and no firm deadline for a decision on the pipeline, the issue threatens to drag into the 2014 congressional elections in November.

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.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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