TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline: Problems and Updates

Updates

October 27, 2011: As predicted, the Obama administration will delay decision on Keystone XL until after the election. 

September 7, 2011: Hope spring eternal. TransCanada buying land in South Dakota for Keystone XL.

A remote 160-acre plot of rolling rangeland in the far northeast corner of Butte County was bought at auction Tuesday for $48,000 by representatives of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline.

The land had been taken over by the county in 1993. Since it lies in the route of the proposed pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, the county decided to offer the land for sale to the pipeline company rather than negotiating an easement.

The auction Tuesday had a minimum bid of $300 per acre. TransCanada was the sole bidder.

February 21, 2011: Environmentalists release impact statement showing pipelines carrying corrosive heavy sands oil are 16 times more susceptible to safety incidents. 

February 4, 2011: The official recommendation from the commission appointed by President Obama to study the Keystone XL issue: the 1,900 mile pipeline carrying heavy oil from Canadian oil sands to refineries in Texas would be beneficial to the US. The results of the study was released December 23, 2010.  The "XL" would bring TransCanada's total capacity to 1.1 million barrels/day.

A proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast could substantially reduce U.S. dependency on oil from the Middle East and other regions, according to a report commissioned by the Obama administration.

The study suggests the 1,900-mile pipeline, coupled with a reduction in overall U.S. oil demand, "could essentially eliminate Middle East crude imports longer term." The $7 billion project would carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas.

The report, prepared by a Massachusetts firm at the request of the U.S. Energy Department, was completed Dec. 23 and made public this week, as President Barack Obama prepares to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday at the White House.

Original Post

Good news for Enbridge: Texas doesn't want the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline -- the landowners don't want it and even if it goes in, it sounds like the refiners don't want it. I have no dog in this fight.

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Another Keystone XL note, nothing to do with the above story. Bismarck Tribune reports that TransCanada says Bakken oil will go up about $3/bbl when the Keystone XL comes on-line. Right now, without the XL pipeline, there is an oversupply of oil in the Midwest, thus decreasing price of a barrel of oil (for both Bakken oil and heavy sands oil).

With the XL pipeline, heavy sands oil will go to the gulf, lessening the over-supply in the Midwest, and bringing up the price of oil in the Midwest, about $3/barrel.