Pipeline Online: Keystone XL “May be awoken from the grave”

By Brian Zinchuk

Trump says trade deal reached, and Keystone XL “May be awoken from the grave”

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday night that a trade deal had been reached with Canada. And apparently, a revival of the Keystone XL project is on the table, although he’s likely referring to the Bridger Pipeline/Prairie Connector, which would revive the Alberta portion of KXL (already built, in the ground and dormant) and the yet-to-be-built Saskatchewan portion.

Here’s the post:

I have paused the 50% Tariffs against Canada, that were scheduled to kick in tomorrow morning for a three day period, based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL! The great Keystone XL Pipeline, long ago killed by Sleepy Joe Biden, may be awoken from the grave! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

The Prairie Connector project would essentially maintain all of the original Canadian plans for Keystone XL, but take an entirely new route in the US, going south to Guernsey, Wyoming, instead of southeast to Steele City, Nebraska.

And this is what Keystone XL would have looked like:

South Bow’s portion of the project is referred to as the “Prairie Connector”, which is essentially a rebirth of the Keystone XL project, up to the US border. But that’s where things change substantially. Instead of the rest of the pipeline being South Bow (spun off in recent years from TC Energy, which itself changed its name from TransCanada Pipelines after the Keystone refuffal), it will continue on as a Bridger Pipeline project, called the Bridger Expansion.

Here’s what South Bow’s web page says:

The Prairie Connector project is a proposed expansion of South Bow’s Canadian asset base, designed to transport growing Canadian crude oil supply through downstream pipelines to key demand and refining markets in the United States, including Guernsey, Wyoming, Cushing, Oklahoma, and destinations on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

South Bow’s proposed Prairie Connector project would extend from Hardisty, Alberta, to the Canada-U.S. border, where it would connect to Bridger Pipeline Expansion, LLC’s downstream facilities.

The Prairie Connector project includes the construction of approximately 380 kilometres of 36-inch pipeline and associated facilities, as well as leveraging approximately 150 kilometres of previously installed and preserved 36-inch pipeline and two pump stations.

The project fact sheet further elaborates:

• ~380 kilometres of new 36-inch pipeline and use of ~150 kilometres of previously installed  and preserved 36-inch pipeline

• Associated facilities required to support pipeline operations, with two pump stations already constructed

Significantly, South Bow announced on May 29, “the successful outcome of its open season, which closed on March 30, 2026, securing 20 year binding commitments for firm transportation service from Hardisty, Alta., to U.S. delivery points.”

That means they’ve got the product to ship, or at least enough to make the project progress.

Nearly all of that new construction would occur in southwest Saskatchewan, including three pump stations near Richmound, Tompkins and Shaunavon.

Bridger’s project web page explains:

Project Details

Bridger is constructing a new ~650-mile 36” pipeline from the US-Canada border in Montana to the Guernsey crude oil terminal hub in Guernsey, Wyoming.

At the US-Canada Border, the Bridger Expansion will connect to Southbow’s proposed Prairie Connector pipeline.  Over 70% of route parallels already existing pipeline corridors.

The project does not cross reservation land.

It’s a new right of way, and a new terminus. It completely sidesteps North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. That last one was where most of the opposition to Keystone XL was based, but it was indeed a Montana judge which kyboshed the project’s permits before President Biden put the final nail in the coffin. And this project will still go through Montana.

Significantly, in April, Trump signed the presidential permit for the project. This was the key approval that President Barack Obama endlessly stalled on before quashing the application.

So if it does go ahead, Trump would indeed be correct, in that Keystone XL, a project he initially approved in his first week in office in 2017, would be revived, in a fashion.