Trump signs Oléoduc permit for Keystone XL-linked pipeline
Donald Trump signed a Thursday decree authorizing an oléoduc project that would revive some Keystone XL sections and move Canadian crude oil from the U.S.-Canada border to Wyoming. The cross-border permit lets the project advance, but the line still needs additional U.S. regulatory approvals before construction can proceed.
South Bow and Bridger Pipeline
The proposal comes from South Bow, the Canadian company created in 2024 by TC Energy to continue its pipeline activities, and its American partner Bridger Pipeline. The project could increase Canada’s crude oil exports to the United States by more than 12% if it is built.
Bridger Pipeline recently filed a proposal with Montana regulators for a 645-mile line, or 1,038 km, that could carry up to 550,000 barrels per day. The route would run from near the U.S.-Canada border in Phillips County, Montana, to Guernsey, Wyoming.
Keystone XL and Canada
Joe Biden canceled Keystone XL in 2021 after years of opposition from Indigenous communities and environmental defenders. The new proposal follows a different route through the United States than the old Keystone XL project, even as the Canadian side has already received all necessary authorizations.
Analysts said Guernsey is not a final market for crude oil, so additional connections would be needed to move oil onward to refining centers such as Cushing, Oklahoma, Patoka, Illinois, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. That leaves the permit Trump signed as an important federal step, not the final approval needed to put the line into service.
Montana and U.S. approvals
State regulatory approvals will also be needed before the project can move ahead. The Montana filing gives the clearest route map so far, but the project still depends on the next layers of permitting in the United States.
For South Bow and Bridger Pipeline, Thursday’s decree changes the federal status of the project; for shippers and producers, the practical question is whether the remaining U.S. approvals arrive soon enough to turn a border permit into a working pipeline.
