Carney knew of South Bow’s Keystone XL plans before White House meeting: Reuters exclusive

Mark Carney was aware of oil company South Bow’s plans to revive parts of the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline to the United States when he floated the idea to Donald Trump in October, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

South Bow, the Canadian pipeline company behind the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline, is considering reviving some of the already-built line in an expansion project aimed at transporting more Canadian oil to the United States, the source said.

During Carney’s meeting at the White House, he raised with Trump the prospect of reviving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the United States, as part of his efforts to ease trade tensions between the two countries.

Carney, who was under increasing pressure in Canada to address painful U.S. tariffs on steel, autos and other goods, asked Trump if he would be interested if the Keystone project were to be revived and had Canadian support, Reuters reported in October.

At that time, South Bow said it had “moved on” from Keystone but was supportive of efforts to increase the transportation of Canadian oil.

Carney was aware then that South Bow was in talks with potential U.S. partners to resurrect part of the old Keystone XL line, a federal source familiar with the matter told Reuters.