THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE WILL HAVE NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER ON THE GLOBAL PRICE OF OIL.
--This is not my opinion.
They have several other proposed pipelines besides the Keystone pipeline.
Global prices are just that, global.
If Canada sells that oil to China from its west coast ports, then China buys less from the rest of the world, and the rest of the world then charges the US a bit less for its imports.
Fun.
Gi.
Ble.
Even if the US completely met its oil needs by domestic production, we would still be vulnerable to oil supply shocks in the middle east.
Middle east oil withdraws--> world consumers bid up prices--> US producers then can export oil more profibably--> domestic supplies go down-->US prices then go up.
This is how drilling all the oil we consume still exposes us to middle east /Africa instability.
The ONLY way to reduce your dependence on this area of the world, aside from government directives to private companies about who they can sell for, and for how much, is to use less oil.
QED. Basic economics.