TC Energy said this week that it has terminated plans to complete the transborder Keystone XL Pipeline which has faced legal battles and permitting challenges for more than a decade. The Calgary-based pipeline operator halted construction on the project on 20 January, the day that US President Joe Biden took office and in one of his first acts as chief executive revoked the pipeline’s permits.
TC Energy’s CEO, François Poirier, issued a statement that said the company values the experience it gained, and relationships made with various stakeholders while pursuing the ill-fated project.
“Through the process, we developed meaningful indigenous equity opportunities and a first-of-its-kind, industry-leading plan to operate the pipeline with net-zero emissions throughout its life cycle. We will continue to identify opportunities to apply this level of ingenuity across our business going forward, including our current evaluation of the potential to power existing US assets with renewable energy,” Poirier said in the statement.
In May, TC Energy reported a $2.2-billion tax impairment charge as a result of the cancellation of the Keystone XL, a move that effectively dashed any prospects of the project moving forward. As proposed, the almost 1,200-mile-long pipeline would have transported heavy-oil stocks from Alberta to refineries along the US Gulf Coast.
Poirier added that TC Energy is moving forward with around $7-billion dollars’ worth of projects under development.
