TransCanada sees producer support for Keystone XL

CALGARY TransCanada Corp. said it still expects commercial support for its controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, tamping down speculation that it was having trouble finding customers for the longdelayed line.

Keystone XL, which was rejected by the Obama administration before being revived by U.S. President Donald Trump this year, would boost TransCanada’s dividend growth, the company said in a statement Friday. Media reports in recent weeks said that the company was having trouble signing up customers for the pipeline, conceived to help move crude from Alberta’s oilsands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

TransCanada said earlier this year that it was working to sign new shippers following years of delays. Given the time it took to gain federal approval, TransCanada said it expected some shippers to reduce their volume commitments and that other new customers would be introduced. The company said on Thursday that it’s soliciting additional commitments to ship oil on Keystone XL.

“We’ve had good support from our legacy shippers, which gives us a good base to launch this open season,” Paul Miller, TransCanada’s president of liquids pipelines, said on a conference call.

The open season closes on Sept. 28, with the results of the process expected to be finalized in late November, Miller said. The company should also receive its regulatory decisions from Nebraska around that time and will weigh both of those factors in determining whether to proceed with the line, he said. If TransCanada decides to move ahead on Keystone XL, it would need six to nine months to prepare for construction and about two years to build it, he said.