The Republicans in the U.S. are moving forward to approve the Keystone pipeline project that would carry Canadian heavy crude oil to the U.S.
The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee announced on its website on Friday that the new head of the committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, has called a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 8,
The meeting is to markup an original bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, while the legislation to be considered by the energy committee is identical to the bill reported favorably by the committee on June 18, said the announcement.
The committee also announced on Tuesday that it will hold a hearing on legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
- Legislative hurdles
The U.S. Senate voted against a bill on Nov. 18 to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry Canadian heavy crude oil to the U.S., with 59 votes in favor to 41 against - one vote shy of approval.
The Republicans, who won the congressional elections on Nov. 4, were expected to get another shot at the approval of the pipeline when they officially gain control of the Senate on Jan. 3.
'Republicans would like to see Keystone XL pipeline be approved,' Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston, told The Anadolu Agency in November.
The Obama Administration has postponed the approval of the controversial pipeline, due to environmental and political concerns for six years, while U.S. President Barack Obama signaled on November that he could use his veto power against the bill, as 67 votes are needed to overcome a presidential veto.
'Now that the Republicans have moved in and taken control of both the Senate and the House, they will pass with veto-proof margins,' David Merkel, a senior fellow at Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, told AA in December.
Hirs stressed that the U.S. would minimize any future interruptions of importing crude oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and adding “This pipeline proposal is in the national interest of the U.S.'
The oil cartel decided on Nov.27 that it will not make any oil production cuts to slow the steep decline in oil prices, which dipped from $115 per barrel in June to $57 per barrel mark on Dec. 31, a fall of 50 percent - and the fastest slump since 2008.
The oil cartel's most influential member and the world's largest crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has lowered the official sale price of crude oil to the U.S., in order to preserve its market share and compete with the booming domestic oil production in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the U.S. announced Tuesday that it would allow the export of domestically produced condensate oil, relaxing a 40-year old ban on oil exports, adding to fears that oil prices will dive deeper amid a supply glut.
The lifting of the ban could heat up the oil price war, and pose a serious obstacle against Saudi Arabia's aspirations to gain global dominance in oil markets.
- Keystone's impact on U.S. energy security
To carry heavy crude oil from Alberta's tar sands through Nebraska and Oklahoma to reach the U.S. refineries on the Gulf coast, the northern extension of the pipeline, Keystone XL, would provide an additional capacity of 500,000 barrels per day, says TransCanada.
This would have brought the total capacity of the 2,150 miles (3,460 kilometers) long pipeline to more than one million barrels a day, with the total investment reaching $12.2 billion, according to its operator, TransCanada's website.
While the U.S. crude oil imports decreased over the years with higher domestic light oil production volumes every year since 2008, the country still needs heavy crude oil, say U.S. oil experts.
Before the shale oil boom in 2008, most of the U.S. refineries were designed for heavy type crude oil, which is imported from Middle Eastern countries.
The approval of Keystone XL would have divorced the U.S. from the uncertainties of overseas sellers who pose risks to uninterrupted oil supplies due to the political instability of their region, according to energy analysts who supported the bill.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr