The Keystone XL Pipeline Gets Some Canadian Competition

When TransCanada first proposed the Keystone XL pipeline in 2008, the company hoped it would be done by 2012 and begin carrying heavy crude from the Alberta oil sands in Western Canada down to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Six years later the pipeline remains in limbo, stymied by Department of State reviews, route adjustments, lawsuits, environmental and economic studies, and (most important) an Obama administration that appears truly divided on the issue. Last month the State Department announced that no decision would come until after November’s midterm elections.

Environmentalists hailed the latest delay as “a huge victory” in their effort to keep the pipeline from getting built, and therefore the heavy oil from getting produced. But even if Keystone XL (KXL) never happens, that doesn’t mean Canada’s oil sands will stay in the ground. While Canadian officials remain “hopeful” that KXL will ultimately get approved, they’re not banking on it. While KXL languishes, pipeline companies are scrambling to get approval for a handful of other projects that would move vast amounts of Alberta’s heavy oil east and west, but not south.