TC Energy in talks to sell KXL stake to Indigenous company.

• Pipeline giant TC Energy Corp. announced Tuesday it was negotiating an agreement to sell a stake in its long- delayed and often- challenged Keystone XL pipeline project to a company formed from an alliance between five First Nations.

TC Energy has publicly discussed selling a stake in its under- construction Us$14.4-billion Keystone XL pipeline project to the U. S. Gulf Coast and announced Tuesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Natural Law Energy, a company jointly owned by five First Nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“We aspire to expand this model into future opportunities for other Indigenous groups along our Keystone XL right- of- way, both in Canada and the United States,” Keystone XL president Richard Prior said in a release, which called the MOU the first of its kind for TC Energy.

The company did not disclose the size of the stake or the value of the investment, but said a final agreement between TC Energy and Natural Law Energy would be formalized in the fourth quarter.

“Today’s announcement is a testament to what we can accomplish when industry and Indigenous groups work together,” said Chief Alvin Francis, president of Natural Law Energy, which is supported by the elected leaders of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, Montana First Nation, Louis Bull Tribe, Saddle Lake Cree Nation and Nekaneet First Nation.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney immediately praised the agreement, calling it a historic deal “for a large equity stake in energy infrastructure projects” by a First Nations group.

“The full participation of Indigenous people in our entire economy is central to reconciliation,” Kenney said.

“Likewise, Alberta’s recovery depends on Indigenous communities participating in economic prosperity.”

Several First Nations- led business consortia have been formed in Western Canada in recent years to negotiate for stakes in natural- resource projects, including the stalled federally owned Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion between Alberta and British Columbia.