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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery added 27 cents to $47.97 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May added 24 cents to $50.80 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.95 to WTI ($35.02), unchanged. Natural gas for April added three cents to $3.08. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 196.63.

The big news in the oil patch today was a long-awaited approval for a nearly decade-old pipeline proposal. TransCanada Corp.'s (TRP: $61.82) Keystone XL pipeline, which is intended to carry oil from Alberta to Nebraska, where it will link up with an existing southern leg to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has finally won a U.S. presidential permit. One hard-fought battle is over. Plenty more are on the way.

The permit comes nearly nine years after Keystone XL was first proposed. TransCanada announced the pipeline in July, 2008, and filed its application with the U.S. State Department in September, 2008. The hope was that Keystone XL would start operating in 2012. Instead, in 2010, environmental activists seized on Keystone XL as a symbol of resistance to fossil fuels, and began a continuing descent into hysteria, fearmongering, and an orgy of protests and lawsuits. Former U.S. president Barack Obama indulged them by delaying Keystone XL for years and ultimately rejecting it in late 2015. His rejection was based on the recommendation of former State secretary John Kerry, who wrote, seemingly without a trace of embarrassment, "The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combatting climate change." This statement -- an admission that the U.S. government had capitulated to the protest movement, willingly turning what should have been a standard infrastructure question into an environmental litmus test -- was astounding. Fortunately, Mr. Obama's decision was reversed earlier this year by newly elected President Donald Trump. This allowed TransCanada to reapply for a presidential permit in January. Today, at long last, that permit was received.

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