The Nebraska Public Service Commission has started a final hearing on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which was approved by the new US President in March 2017. Nebraska is the last of three states - Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska - to have to approve the project to make it go ahead.
The 830,000 bbl/d Keystone XL project, developed by TransCanada to link the Alberta oil sands to the United States (Nebraska) over a 1,897 km (1,179 miles) route, had been repeatedly delayed by the previous US Government. The US$8bn project was approved by the US Senate and the House of Representatives in 2015, but was finally vetoed by President Obama. Later on, TransCanada initiated a claim under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, seeking to recover more than US$15bn in costs and damages.
If the project overcomes this last hurdle, TransCanada will be able to ship crude from Canada's oil sands producing regions to refineries on the US Coast.