NEW YORK — TransCanada Corp. expects its Keystone XL pipeline to be in operation by late 2014 or early 2015 "subject to regulatory approvals," according to the company’s most recent earnings report.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company has so far invested $1.8 billion in the project, which recently received approval for its route through Nebraska (amm.com, Jan. 22). The total cost of the 36-inch, 830,000 barrel-per-day line—designed to transport oil from Calgary to Texas’ Gulf Coast—is expected to reach $5.3 billion.

The Obama administration denied the initial permit for the project last year on environmental grounds (amm.com, Jan. 18, 2012), and TransCanada reapplied in May using a different route.

TransCanada posted 2012 net income of nearly Canadian $1.3 billion ($1.29 billion), down 14.9 percent from C$1.53 billion in 2011 despite a 2.1-percent increase in revenue to C$8.01 billion ($7.99 billion) from C$7.84 billion.

The company’s fourth-quarter net income sank 18.6 percent to C$306 million ($305.25 million) from C$376 million in the same period a year earlier despite revenue increasing 3.7 percent to C$2.09 billion ($2.08 billion) from C$2.02 billion.

Lower contributions from natural gas pipelines caused part of the earnings drop, the company said.