President Obama has denied a permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, but investors, public officials and analysts said the project is likely to move forward on an alternate route, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The developer, Calgary-based TransCanada, is seeking to build the 1,700-mile pipeline to connect oil sands in Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In November, the Obama administration delayed its decision on the pipeline to examine alternate routes that would avoid environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska.
President Obama said Wednesday that a deadline imposed by congressional Republicans left no time to approve the project, but the administration invited TransCanada to reapply and the company said it would do so, Bloomberg reported.
A final decision on the $7 billion pipeline will now be delayed until 2013, Bloomberg said.
In October, an American Trucking Associations official told the U.S. State Department the pipeline would provide a stable and secure source of energy for the U.S. and the trucking industry and its construction should be approved.
