Obama administration is sending response on Keystone XL to TransCanada: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department is in the process of sending a response to TransCanada Corp on its plea to pause the review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a department official said on Tuesday. There was no estimate of when the response would be sent, and the State Department's review of the pipeline was continuing on Tuesday. TransCanada asked the department on Monday to delay the review of the pipeline that would help link Canada's heavy oil fields to U.S. refineries. TransCanada's move was widely seen as an attempt to avoid rejection by President Barack Obama, who has been increasingly focused on the environment, and to take its chances with his successor in 2017. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)