South Bow wary of reviving Keystone XL without stronger US permit guarantees

CALGARY – South Bow will not be moving forward with a partial revival of the Keystone XL pipeline until it has concrete assurances a US presidential permit won’t be reversed by a future administration.Speaking at the Energy Roundtable conference in Calgary on Thursday, the pipeline operator’s CEO, Bevin Wirzba, said the company has concerns over the long-term “durability” of the cross-border permit that was issued by President Donald Trump in April, which would revive portions of the long-cancelled Keystone XL pipeline to transport Canadian crude from the US-Canada border to Guernsey, Wyoming.“There's been some policy reform in the United States,” Wirzba told the audience.“[It’s] a big step forward, but it's still not a complete durability step to that permit. The presidential permit basically indicates support across all agencies that they're welcoming us to put forward a project and go through the necessary steps to get the project approved.”.UPDATED: Trump approves Bridger pipeline to move Canadian oil to Wyoming.He added there were still “literally hundreds of permits and conditions that have to be met.”The announced Alberta-Wyoming pipeline, which was proposed by South Bow and its US partner Bridger Pipeline, could increase Canada’s crude exports to the US by more than 12% if it comes through.The revived pipeline route would follow a different route than the original Keystone XL project, which was cancelled by former president Joe Biden in 2021 after years of opposition from both environmental and Indigenous groups.Approximately 150 kilometres of Keystone XL pipe had already been constructed in Canada before the project was cancelled and have remained idle ever since.South Bow said earlier this month it had already begun work securing regulatory approvals along the proposed route for the Prairie Connector project.

South Bow wary of reviving Keystone XL without stronger US permit guarantees

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