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TransCanada rises despite U.S. Senate rejection of Keystone XL measure

Last updated: 08:44 19 Nov 2014 EST, First published: 09:44 19 Nov 2014 EST

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TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) (TSE:TRP) advanced in New York trading today even after the U.S. Senate yesterday defeated a bill to authorize construction of the Canada-based pipeline maker’s Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares were up 2.1 percent at $50.63 at 9:39 a.m. in New York.

The measure fell just short of the 60 votes needed for passage, despite frantic last-minute lobbying by supporters, including co-sponsor and Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who spent days cajoling colleagues to back the legislation to boost her re-election odds.

The tally was 59 to 41 on the $8 billion project, with all 45 Republicans supporting the bill.

Despite the loss, Landrieu was upbeat. "There’s no blame, there’s only joy in the fight," she told reporters.

Next year’s vote promises to be different when Republicans take control of the chamber with at least eight more members. That could be enough to win passage though short of the 67 needed to overcome a presidential veto without significant Democratic defections.

All 45 Senate Republicans voted for the bill, joined by 14 Democrats. Next year, Republicans will have 54 members if Landrieu loses her race to Republican Representative Bill Cassidy, who is leading in polls.

Yesterday’s vote was taken hard in Canada where development of the oil sands is important to Alberta's budget. "We are disappointed that U.S. politics continue to delay a decision on Keystone XL," a spokesman for Canada's Natural Resources Minister told Reuters via email.

TransCanada’s chief executive officer Russ Girling, meanwhile, said there is growing support for the project revealed in the votes in Congress.

“We will continue to push for reason over gridlock, common sense over symbolism and solid science over rhetoric to approve Keystone XL and unlock its benefits for America,” Girling told Bloomberg News in an e-mail.

Since TransCanada first applied to build Keystone in September 2008, it has become a proxy in a broader debate over jobs, U.S. energy security and climate change. Keystone XL would have the capacity to carry 830,000 barrels of oil a day, connecting Alberta’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The project has been delayed for several years by the State Department's environmental review process.

Its analysis, released in January, found the project would pose no "significant" environmental danger. In April, however, the Obama administration indefinitely extended the amount of time agencies have to review the project, citing continued legal wrangling over the pipeline's route through Nebraska.

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