Carney, Trump Discussed Plan to Revive Keystone XL Pipeline

A U.S. company is proposing to resurrect part of the long-dead Keystone XL pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen from the Canada-U.S. border to Wyoming. And Prime Minister Mark Carney was aware of the plan when he met with Donald Trump in October, according to news reports.

“The project’s possible revival stems from a proposal by Bridger Pipeline LLC to build a pipeline to deliver roughly 550,000 barrels a day of crude from the Canada-U.S. border in Phillips County, MT to Guernsey, WY,” the Globe and Mail reports. The plan would require rapid permitting from the Trump administration “if it is to avoid the issues that bedevilled the project over the almost 15 years between its initial proposal and eventual demise.”

But “in the Trump world, it probably wouldn’t take very long” to get that permit in place, said fossil industry consultant Richard Masson, former CEO of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission.

On the Canadian side of the border, the Globe adds, the certificate allowing South Bow LLC to build the connecting portion of the pipeline “remains valid, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, and the company continues to comply with its permit conditions.”

But Masson still raised flags about whether the project would make sense.

“What happens when the Democrats get back in?” he asked. “Whether the thing is built or not, does the permit get pulled for the third time?”

That concern comes on to top of other pipelines competing for a limited supply of oil. “These are all smart people, so the fact that we’re talking about this means there’s probably something there,” he told the Globe. “But my guess is it still faces lots of challenges before it’s going to come to fruition.”

Reuters says Carney was aware of South Bow’s interest when he floated the Keystone plan with Trump last fall. During their meeting at the White House, the PM “raised with Trump the prospect of reviving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the United States, as part of his efforts to ease trade tensions between the two countries,” the news agency writes. “Carney, who was under increasing pressure in Canada to address painful U.S. tariffs on steel, autos, and other goods, asked Trump if he would be interested if the Keystone project were to be revived and had Canadian support.”

At the time, he knew South Bow was in touch with potential U.S. partners. “He certainly was aware that there would be some private sector interest,” an unidentified source told Reuters.

Cover photo:  shannonpatrick17/flickr