March 5, 2010

North Dakota, Montana lobby for access to TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone pipeline

BILLINGS, Mont.

The governors of North Dakota and Montana are enlisting domestic oil producers to pressure Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada Corp. to allow domestic crude onto a pipeline planned from Alberta to the Gulf Coast.

TransCanada hopes to start construction this year on the 3,000-kilometre Keystone XL pipeline, part of a plan to move crude from the oilsands.

But Montana is threatening to hold up the project — which includes about 450 kilometres through the state — if TransCanada doesn’t allow an “onramp” for oil producers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana.

A TransCanada executive last month told Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer the company had received little interest in such an entry point.

In response, Schweitzer and North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven invited domestic oil producers to meet with TransCanada March 3 to press their case.

On its way to Texas through the Northern Plains, the pipeline will pass through the booming Bakken oil formation. It holds an estimated 3.65 billion barrels of crude beneath Montana.

Associated Press

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