The Keystone XL pipeline project's owner, TC Energy, said on Wednesday that it has terminated the controversial pipeline project that would have served as a lifeline to Canadian oilsands producers looking for more takeaway capacity.
TC Energy Corporation (NYSE: TRP) confirmed Wednesday that after careful review of the available options and after consulting with the Government of Alberta, it has officially canceled the Keystone XL.
Construction activities were stopped back in January.
The project's cancellation comes several months after President Joe Biden revoked the Presidential Permit for the pipeline on January 20 of this year, in what was mostly seen as a death blow for the pipeline.
TC Energy will now set to work on how it will wind everything down while continuing to meet its environmental and regulatory commitments.
Canada had previously warned the United States that scrapping the vital oil pipeline would weaken relationships between the two countries.
Proponents of the Keystone XL project have argued that scrapping the Keystone XL would not diminish the demand for the heavy crude oil that the pipeline would have carried to U.S. refineries. Instead, it would merely raise the United States' dependence on crude oil from OPEC countries. An argument has been made that it would also kill jobs on both sides of the border.
It was suggested back in January that if TC Energy did not challenge the permit rescission in court or through NAFTA, it might sell some of the pipes from the project to offset some of what has been invested so far.
As of February, Alberta had spent $1.2 billion on the project so far.
The Keystone XL would have carried 800,000 bpd of oil per day from Canada to the United States.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More