Delivering the Energy the World Needs, Safely and Reliably

Jul 31, 2015 8:00 AM ET

On January 22, 2014, TransCanada announced that the Gulf Coast Project — the safest pipeline ever built on U.S. soil — began delivering crude oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, to state-of-the-art refineries in Texas.

The completion of this US$2.6-billion crude oil pipeline provides a safe and direct connection between the important oil hub in Cushing and delivery points on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“This is a very important milestone for TransCanada, our shippers and Gulf Coast refiners, who have been waiting for a pipeline to supply crude oil directly from Cushing,” said Russ Girling, TransCanada’s president and CEO in a press conference announcing the in-service date. “This project is a critical, modern piece of American energy infrastructure that allows producers to safely connect growing production with the world’s most efficient refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast. It also provides those American refineries the opportunity to use more of the crude oil produced in both Canada and the U.S. for decades to come.”

Construction of the 784 km (487-mile) crude oil pipeline involved more than 11 million hours of labour, completed by 4,844 U.S. workers, more than 50 contracts with manufacturers and companies building the pipeline, and equipment from across the U.S. It also includes the addition of 2.25 million barrels of new crude oil storage capacity at Cushing.

This is in addition to the 8,969 men and women who constructed the initial Keystone Pipeline System, and more than 9,000 more Americans waiting to build Keystone XL.

The Gulf Coast Project not only had significant positive impacts on the lives of the men and women who built this world-class infrastructure project, but it also brought considerable economic impacts to the communities along the route. The project gave local businesses a healthy boost in sales, provided opportunities for growth and community investment.

Learn more about TransCanada’s focus on delivering the energy the world needs, safely and reliably, in the economy section of the 2014 CSR Report.