Canada presses Obama on Keystone XL

Barack Obama is showing uncharacteristic reticence when it comes to TransCanada's plans to build a direct pipeline link from Alberta's oil sands to the Texas Gulf coast

The US president had nothing to say about the issue at a news conference in February when nudged by Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper after a one-hour summit in Washington. Harper provided the opening when he told reporters the Obama administration should issue a certificate of approval for Keystone XL, a twin pipeline project that would boost capacity on the existing Keystone system by 0.7m barrels a day (b/d), including some volumes from Bakken producers in northern US states. The Keystone system, excluding the mooted XL extension, from Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma, is ramping up to its design capacity of 0.59m b/d, expected early this year. But Keystone XL has become the ultimate sho