In the weeks following the decision by US President Joe Biden to remove the Keystone XL oil pipeline, social media reports claimed that the project was “in phase 4 and almost complete” and that by the time Biden “Paid”. pull the plug. Although it is true that the project has received funding, which is expected to be paid out in 2021 and 2022, the claim is partly untrue, as less than 10% of the pipeline was built when Biden formally revoked the permit.
Examples of postings that make this claim can be found here, here and here.
These posts refer to the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that Biden canceled on its first day on January 21, 2021 by Biden, which dealt a fatal blow to a long-running project that would carry 830,000 barrels per day of heavy oil – sand ru from Alberta to Nebraska (here).
Environmental activists and indigenous communities welcomed the cancellation, and traders and analysts said the pipelines between the US and Canada would have more than enough capacity to handle increasing volumes of crude oil from Canada, the primary foreign oil supplier to the United States (here), to handle.
Here, a map of the Keystone XL route along the existing Keystone pipeline system can be seen.
HOW FURTHER WAS CONSTRUCTION?
By claiming that the project was in ‘phase’ 4 ‘of construction, the posts appear to be merging the Keystone XL pipeline with the larger Keystone pipeline system.
The Keystone XL pipeline, owned by North American company TC Energy, is the fourth phase of the Keystone pipeline system, an existing 2,687-mile pipeline whose Canadian portion runs from Hardisty, Alberta, east to Manitoba, where it turns south and borders North Dakota, ”according to the company’s website (here).
In the United States, the existing Keystone pipeline system runs from the North Dakota border ‘south through South Dakota to Steele City, Nebraska, where it is divided – one arm runs east through Missouri for deliveries in Wood River and Patoka, Illinois, with the others running south through Oklahoma to Cushing and further to Port Arthur and Houston, Texas. ”
The Keystone XL Pipeline, a planned expansion of this larger system that will be 1,210 miles from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, is considered “the fourth phase of the Keystone Pipeline System” (www.keystonexl.com/ about /).
Reuters emailed James Stevenson, a spokesman for the Canada Energy Regulator, which oversees the Canadian section of the Keystone XL pipeline (here). Stevenson confirmed that by the end of 2020, about 152 kilometers of pipeline had been laid near the U.S.-Canada border.
Therefore, about 8% of the planned expansion of 1,210 miles XL was built when President Biden withdrew the permit.
HOW MUCH FINANCING DOES THE PROJECT SAFE?
According to a press release from TC Energy in March 2020, the estimated cost of the project was $ 8 billion (here).
At the time of the press release, the Alberta government had invested $ 1.1 billion in the project, which largely covered the cost of construction until the end of 2020, according to TC Energy.
The press release also states that the remaining $ 6.9 billion needed for construction is ‘expected’ to be made largely in 2021 and 2022 and will be financed by the combination of a US $ 4.2 billion credit facility on the project level set by the Government of Alberta and a US $ 2.7 billion investment by TC Energy. ”
In other words, 14% of the investment was made in 2020, with the remaining 86% secured and expected to be paid in 2021 and 2022.
Reuters commented on whether additional funds were invested between January 1, 2021 and January 20, 2021. Reuters reached out to TC Energy, but did not receive a timely response for the publication of this article.
The Reuters Fact Check team earlier here downplayed the social media claims surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline.
VERDICT
Partly false. Although the Keystone Pipeline XL received full funding until 2022, only 8% of it was still built when President Biden revoked the project’s permit in the United States.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work here to check out social media posts.