This article was firstly published by Seeking Alpha on February 3, 2015
By Sarfaraz A. Khan, Research Asst. Adnan Mushtaq
Last week, the Democrats blocked the passage of TransCanada's (NYSE:TRP) Keystone XL pipeline bill in the U.S. Senate, lingering on the house's discussion over the construction of the project. On Thursday, however, the Republicans -- who have favored the pipeline -- successfully passed a slightly amended version of the bill with 62 "yes" votes, thanks to the support from nine Democrats. But the bill is still five votes short of 67 required to bypass a presidential veto. The White House has already said that the President is going to use his authority to stop the bill from becoming a law on the pretext of the completion of the ongoing U.S. government review.
The proposed 1,179-mile pipeline will carry 830,000 barrels of heavy oil a day from Canada's tar sands to Nebraska's Steele City, where it would connect with existing pipelines headed for refineries at the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline will be built with a price tag of C$8 billion and could lift TransCanada's annual EBITDA by US$1 billion when fully operational.
The bill will likely get vetoed by President Obama, but that won't be the end of Keystone XL. The fact that the project got the green light from the U.S. Senate for the first time since it was proposed in 2008, and a favorable ruling from Nebraska's Supreme Court earlier this year, could be a harbinger of more positive things to come. It also helps that Keystone XL supporting Republicans now control both houses of Congress. Read full article at Seeking Alpha.
