TransCanada accepts President Trump’s invitation to begin permitting process
TransCanada (ticker: TRP) applied for a Presidential Permit for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline yesterday, two days after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum to accelerate American pipeline projects.
The White House memorandum invited TransCanada to “promptly re-submit its application to the Department of State for a Presidential permit for the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline.”
President and CEO of TransCanada Russ Girling described the project as “an important new piece of modern U.S. infrastructure that secures access to an abundant energy resource produced by a neighbor that shares a commitment to a clean and healthy environment.”
TransCanada emphasized the potential benefits of Keystone XL to the U.S., quoting forecasts by the U.S. Department of State that estimate that the construction of the pipeline would support tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs and associated income during construction and contribute approximately $3.4 Billion to U.S. GDP.
Keystone XL would be a major part of Canada’s export infrastructure
When completed Keystone and Keystone XL will transport a combined 20% of Western Canadian exports to US refineries. With 545,000 BPD of transportation contracts in place, TransCanada “remains committed to advancing Keystone XL,” the company said.
The president’s memorandum also mandated that pipelines be built with American steel, which may become an issue in Keystone XL construction. “We have procured a lot of the materials already, most of that was purchased within North America” Girling told investors in a presentation Wednesday.
Oil & Gas 360® ran an exclusive in-depth interview with Corey Goulet, president of Keystone projects for TransCanada, in the fall of 2015, when it looked like the pipeline was getting close to approval.
In that interview Goulet talked about the pipe that had been purchased and stockpiled in advance of an approval:
OAG360: How much investment of time and capital is needed to complete the Keystone XL?
COREY GOULET: We’ve invested about $2.5 billion so far: we’ve bought just about all the pipe and the pumps and motors. We’ve completed most of the engineering and we’ve spent six and a half years in the permitting process.
What’s left to do? Once we get the president’s signature and the state permits, we have to get approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and hundreds of county permits.
After that we can start construction and that will be about two years of work.
