OTTAWA, Aug 29 (Reuters) -

Canada named senior energy industry executive Dawn Farrell

on Friday to lead a new office designed to fast-track the review

and approval of natural resources projects such as mines and

pipelines, a process that can take a decade.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the major projects

office earlier this year, saying streamlining will boost gross

domestic product and help offset the damage from U.S. tariffs.

Farrell, who was CEO of the Trans Mountain Pipeline from

2022 to 2024, and her team will identify projects in the

national interest and help speed up their development. This

should reduce the approval timeline for major projects to a

maximum of two years, Carney's office said in a statement.

"For too long, the construction of major infrastructure has

been stalled by arduous, inefficient approval processes, leaving

enormous investments on the table."

Farrell's office will be based in Calgary, the capital of

Canada's oil patch.

Ottawa has yet to designate any projects as being of

national significance.

In a statement, the Canadian Association of Petroleum

Producers said Farrell's appointment, and creation of the

office, were "concrete steps towards making Canada an energy

superpower and send a positive signal to industry and

investors."

As CEO of Trans Mountain, Farrell oversaw a multibillion

dollar expansion of the pipeline's capacity that was completed

last year. She was CEO of utility company TransAlta ( TAC ) from 2012 to

2021.