Americas News
Keystone XL Pipeline Faces Delays
The start of construction on the Keystone XL pipeline for the transportation of Canadian bitumen from the Alberta tar sands into the U.S. has been delayed until late 2015, according to a report by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail.
TransCanada Corp., the company handling the pipeline, said operations were originally scheduled to begin in late 2014 or early 2015, subject to U.S. approval, but it is still waiting on a decision by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.
"Maintaining a project through this kind of delay is not inexpensive," said TransCanada CEO Russ Girling.
The company has invested $1.8 billion out of a total cost of between $5.3 billion and $5.4 billion so far.
The pipeline would run from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, a distance of 1,900 kilometers, but U.S. environmentalists say the project would lead to more oil production in Alberta's oil sands, increasing overall greenhouse gas emissions in North America.
TransCanada argues that the Alberta oil will be produced and transported one way or another whether the pipeline is built or not.
Girling said the pipeline would transport the Alberta bitumen, along with light oil from the U.S. Bakken region, to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, helping to make North America less dependent on imports from outside the continent.
"Our strategy is to go directly to connect growing continental supply to these refineries, displacing offshore imports," he said.
Oil production in North America has been ramping up due to development both from Alberta and from U.S. shale sources, particularly in the Bakken, although experts say there is considerable uncertainty about how low U.S. imports will fall.
