Keystone Pipeline

Keystone Pipeline System (Operational and Proposed)
Keystone Pipeline Route
Location
Country	Canada United States
General information
Type	Crude oil
Owner	TransCanada

The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and now owned solely by TransCanada Corporation. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Texas, and also to oil tank farms and an oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma. The pipeline came to a greater prominence of attention when a planned fourth phase, Keystone XL, attracting growing environmental protest, became a symbol of the battle over climate change and fossil fuels, and in 2015 was rejected by then President Barack Obama. On January 24, 2017, President Donald Trump took action intended to permit the pipeline's completion.

Three phases of the project are in operation. They are:

The proposed Keystone XL (sometimes abbreviated KXL, with XL standing for "export limited") Pipeline (Phase IV) would essentially duplicate (though along a shorter route and with a larger-diameter pipe) the Phase I pipeline between Hardisty, Alberta, and Steele City, Nebraska. It would run through Baker, Montana, where American-produced light crude oil from the Williston Basin (Bakken formation) of Montana and North Dakota would be added to the Keystone's throughput of synthetic crude oil (syncrude) and diluted bitumen (dilbit) from the oil sands of Canada. After more than six years of review, President Barack Obama announced on November 6, 2015, his administration's rejection of the fourth phase. On January 24, 2017, President Trump, signed presidential memorandums to revive both Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. The memorandum is designed to expedite the environmental review process.