The long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline has been on the drawing board for a decade. The 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) pipeline would help carry 830,000 more barrels of crude a day from Alberta’s oil sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. The project has been a top target of environmentalists, who argue that the pipeline would contribute to catastrophic climate change.
No new export pipelines out of Canada are planned until late next year at the earliest, when Enbridge Inc.’s Line 3 is scheduled to start operation. Two other pipeline projects including the government-owned Trans Mountain line to Vancouver area as well as the proposed Keystone XL have faced regulatory and legal delays in addition to fierce opposition from environmental groups and landowners.
Keystone runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, where it splits into two segments running to Cushing and to Patoka, Illinois. From those hubs, oil is transferred to other lines running to the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to about half the nation’s refining capacity.
This article provided by Bloomberg News.