The almost two-decade-long oil pipeline saga surrounding the failed Keystone XL pipeline is nearing an finish, as Calgary-based TC Energy has misplaced its bid to recoup $15 billion from the U.S. government.
The choice additionally raises doubts about whether or not the Alberta government will recover any of its losses as an investor within the mission.
TC Energy first proposed the 1,897-kilometre pipeline in 2005 to move oil from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest.
The firm completely suspended the mission in January 2021, after U.S. President Joe Biden pulled the presidential permit for the pipeline. Only about 150 kilometres of pipe was installed in Alberta.
A divided three-judge panel of arbitrators, sitting on the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, dominated against TC Energy on Friday.
“We are both disappointed and frustrated with the tribunal’s decision to deny our right to bring a legacy NAFTA claim,” Patrick Keys, the corporate’s normal counsel, stated in an emailed assertion on Tuesday.
“This ruling does not align with our expectations and views of the plain interpretation of the protections NAFTA and the USMCA were designed to offer,” he stated, referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “TC Energy was treated unfairly and inequitably in the revocation of the permit, which was driven by political considerations.”
TC Energy stated the corporate has not acknowledged in its monetary statements, nor factored into its outlook, any potential recoveries associated to the NAFTA claim.
The tribunal stated the legacy provisions tied to the previous North American Free Trade Agreement solely allow claims based mostly on breaches that allegedly occurred whereas NAFTA was in pressure.
The Alberta government grew to become an investor within the mission in 2021 and offered mortgage ensures to TC Energy to assist kick-start building of the pipeline within the province.
The identical free-trade arbitration tribunal that heard TC Energy’s case will think about the Alberta government’s claim.
In its submitting, the province is asking the tribunal to award damages of at the least $1.6 billion Cdn “as compensation for the losses caused by, or arising out of, the U.S. government’s measures which have been held to have breached the terms of the CUSMA and NAFTA” commerce agreements.
