U.S. President Barack Obama on Nov. 6 rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Nebraska, more than seven years after the controversial project was first proposed.

"The State Department has decided the Keystone XL pipeline would not serve the national interests of the United States. I agree with that decision," Obama said.

Keystone XL would have linked existing pipeline networks in Canada and the United States to bring synthetic crude oil and diluted bitumen from Alberta's oil sands to refineries in Illinois and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico coast.

TransCanada Corporation, the Canadian company that had hoped to build the pipeline, first sought the required presidential permit for the cross-border section in 2008.