July 16 (Reuters) - Canada's TC Energy ( TRP ) said on

Tuesday a free trade arbitration tribunal had tossed out its

claim to recover more than $15 billion from the U.S. government

for the cancellation of its Keystone XL project.

The pipeline operator had submitted a formal request for

arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) in 2021.

U.S. President Joe Biden had canceled the pipeline's permit

a year after the NAFTA was terminated in July 2020. The pact was

then replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

(USMCA).

TC Energy ( TRP ) said the tribunal determined it did not have the

authority to decide if the revocation of the Presidential Permit

violated the obligations outlined under the NAFTA.

"This ruling does not align with our expectations and views

of the plain interpretation of the protections NAFTA and the

USMCA were designed to offer," TC Energy ( TRP ) said on Tuesday.

Keystone XL would have carried 830,000 barrels per day of

oil from Alberta in Canada to the U.S. Midwest, but was held up

for more than a decade by environmental opposition and

regulatory hurdles, before its permit was revoked.

In 2022, Alberta, Canada's largest oil-producing province,

had also initiated a trade challenge to recover its investment

of about C$1.3 billion ($949.95 million) in the pipeline.

($1 = 1.3685 Canadian dollars)