South Dakota portion of KXL has doubled in price

The cost of the South Dakota portion of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline has more than doubled to US$ 1.974 billion in the last four years the project has awaited federal approval, the company said in a petition filed with the state Public Utilities Commission yesterday.

The leap in costs from the previous 2010 estimate of US$ 921.4 million is due to factors including the protracted regulatory process, inflation, currency changes, labour cost increases and materials storage, TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said.

The project to build the 1179 mile (1900 km) pipeline to carry 830 000 bpd of Canadian crude from Alberta's oilsands to the Gulf Coast, is in its sixth year of waiting for a US permit after running into fierce environmental opposition.

The latest total cost estimate for Keystone XL is US$ 5.4 billion, although TransCanada has said that will be revised higher once it receives the go-ahead from regulators to build the pipeline.

South Dakota portion

The South Dakota portion will be 314 miles long and stretch from the Montana border in Harding County to the border of Tripp County, Nebraska.

TransCanada was granted a permit to construct and operate Keystone XL by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in June 2010. However, as more than four years have passed without construction starting the company has to certify that the pipeline still meets the conditions upon which it was issued.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Fox, Reuters

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/16092014/south-dakota-portion-of-kxl-has-doubled-in-price/