2015 pipeline completion projected

TORONTO – TransCanada has pushed back the possible start-up date of a controversial pipeline that would carry Canadian oil to refineries in Texas.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company said in an earnings release that its executives continue to work with Nebraska to determine the best route that avoids Nebraska’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region.

Last month, the administration of President Barack Obama denied a permit for the project, but left the door open for TransCanada to apply for a new pipeline route. The company said last month it expected the new application would be processed in an expedited manner so that it could be in service in late 2014.

TransCanada has now moved that back to early 2015.

“We’ve always said that the time period for construction of Keystone XL would be a two full years, and we’re just taking a look at the time frame,” Trans-Canada executive Alex Pourbaix said on a conference call with analysts. “We believe that a reasonable date to get a new presidential permit is in Q1 (first quarter) of 2013, and it was really just simple math.”

Pourbaix said they “have a little bit of work to do in Nebraska” before they reapply in the “near future.”

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said political and regulatory authorities in Nebraska are supportive and said he doesn’t have any doubt the pipeline will be built.

Girling reiterated that the company expects a new application would be processed in an expedited manner. The U.S. State Department, however, has said previously that it wouldn’t necessarily expedite what would be a new review process.

Pourbaix said TransCanada continues to weigh whether to build a segment of the line – from Oklahoma to Texas – that wouldn’t require U.S. State Department approval.