Alberta's Premier heads to Washington this weekend to get more details on why the U-S State Department delayed plans for a major Canadian pipeline project.
Alison Redford has said the U.S. decision is a setback to Alberta's oil industry.
Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty has also voiced his disappointment and suggests the Keystone X-L pipeline could die because of the U.S. delay.
Flaherty says Canada may need to look to other oil export markets, especially in Asia.
Approval for Calgary-based TransCanada's pipeline has been put off until early 2013 as alternate routes are examined.
Washington wants the project to avoid an important Nebraska aquifer and ecologically sensitive areas.
The $7 billion pipeline would carry crude from Alberta's oilsands to refineries in Texas.
The project has already been through a more than three-year regulatory process -- including studies of alternative routes.
It has also been strongly opposed by the U.S. environmental movement, sparking many high profile protests.
