On Wednesday, it was officially announced by its promoters TC Energy Corp behind the long delayed $9 billion Keystone XL Pipeline Project that it had been cancelled. This pipeline project, if completed, would have enabled the transportation of Albertan  tar sands to a Nebraskan pipeline hub, before onward transport by existing pipelines to Gulf coast refineries in Texas. If built, Keystone would have been able to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

There are 3 key reasons why this 1200-mile pipeline project was cancelled. These include firstly and most importantly the revocation of a key permit for its construction along the American stretch of the pipeline project, by the new American Pres Joe Biden. Secondly, ongoing low oil prices caused by a glut in crude oil production, which cast doubt on the economic viability of the project. And thirdly, the growing power of the environmental lobby against such fossil fuel linked projects.

Over the past decade, opponents including local landowners and environmentalists, have fought in the courts and protested the construction of this pipeline project. Their opposition was based on there was no real long-term demand for such a project and it would hamper the country’s transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, as part of its efforts to fight climate change.