CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Jan. 10, 2012) - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) released further details today that highlight the thousands of jobs Keystone XL would create for Americans.

The $7 billion oil pipeline is the largest infrastructure project on the books in the U.S. right now. It would create 20,000 jobs: 13,000 in construction, 7,000 in manufacturing.

• Construction of the 1,600 mile pipeline is broken down into 17 U.S. pipeline spreads or segments, with 500 workers per spread - that's 8,500 jobs
• Keystone XL also needs 30 pump stations worth tens of millions of dollars. Each station requires 100 workers - that's 3,000 jobs. Add another 600 jobs that would be needed for the six construction camps and tank construction at Cushing, Oklahoma
• A project of such magnitude needs construction, management and inspection oversight - that would create 1,000 jobs, bringing the overall Keystone XL total to 13,000 direct, on-site jobs.

A typical union-based pipeline spread/segment for Keystone XL would employ Americans in the following positions:

"These are new, real U.S. jobs. Thirteen thousand Americans would be put to work constructing our Keystone XL project," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "Seven thousand more jobs would be created in the U.S. manufacturing sector, making the materials needed to build Keystone XL."

Keystone XL would require hundreds of millions of dollars worth of materials and related services for items such as the steel pipe, the thousands of fittings, hundreds of large valves, fabrication of piping assemblies and structural steel for supports, and thousands of other pieces of equipment used to build such things as transformers for pumping stations, meters to measure the amount of oil delivered, large electric motors for operating pumps and cabling and electrical equipment to connect our vast pipeline monitoring systems.

TransCanada alone has contracts with over 50 suppliers across the U.S.. Manufacturing locations for our equipment include: Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Ohio, Arkansas, Kansas, California and Pennsylvania.

Construction of Keystone XL is expected to create 7000 manufacturing jobs. Key support companies include: Welspun (pipe from Arkansas), Cameron (valves from Louisiana), Siemens (pumps, motors and related control equipment manufactured in Oregon, Ohio and Indiana) and dozens of other companies manufacturing everything from nuts and bolts to complex electrical control equipment.

The pipeline construction contractors must also procure hundreds of millions dollars worth of equipment and materials. Hundreds of jobs will be created through requirements for fuel, coating materials, welding supplies, concrete materials, geo-textile materials, pipeline weights, native seed materials for reclamation, cathodic protection materials, crushed rock, sediment barrier materials, valve and pigging assemblies, field trailer manufacturing, construction mats, power facility materials, aggregate manufacturing, road construction materials, water and waste facility manufacturing, fencing materials, communication infrastructure, bridge construction materials and many others.

As Keystone XL supports oil sands development, the impact on jobs in America becomes even more pronounced. The Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) predicts a $521 billion increase in the U.S. gross domestic product and the creation of 465,000 U.S. jobs. For every two oil sands jobs created in Canada, one job will be created in the U.S. Every State will benefit from this development.

At least 1000 American companies supply goods and services to Canadian oil sands and pipeline companies - Berg Steel Pipe in Houston, Siemens Energy from California and the Michelin plant in Greenville, South Carolina are just three examples.

The $6 billion Keystone pipeline that has safely delivered over 160 million barrels of oil to the U.S. Midwest since the summer of 2010 created 9,000 construction jobs and thousands more manufacturing jobs.

Keystone XL has the capacity to deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day to U.S. refineries in Cushing, Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 25 per cent of that capacity has been provided for the delivery of U.S. domestic oil from the Bakken fields in Montana and North Dakota and oil from Cushing. Long-term, binding contracts for more than 150,000 barrels per day from the Bakken fields and Cushing have already been signed. This supports the desire in the United States to ultimately achieve domestic energy security.

"The fundamental issue here is that the U.S. imports 10 million barrels of oil each day - forecasts predict that will not change for decades. So the question is where will that oil come from? Will it come from U.S. and Canadian sources or will it continue to be higher priced conflict oil from the Middle East and Venezuela - regions that do not share American values," concluded Girling.

With more than 60 years experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and oil pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada's network of wholly owned natural gas pipelines extends more than 57,000 kilometres (35,500 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with approximately 380 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns or has interests in over 10,800 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America's largest oil delivery systems. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. For more information visit: www.transcanada.com or check us out on Twitter @TransCanada.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION This publication contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "would" or other similar words). Forward-looking statements in this document are intended to provide TransCanada security holders and potential investors with information regarding TransCanada and its subsidiaries, including management's assessment of TransCanada's and its subsidiaries' future financial and operation plans and outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TransCanada's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. TransCanada undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information except as required by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to TransCanada's Management's Discussion and Analysis dated February 14, 2011 under TransCanada's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and other reports filed by TransCanada with Canadian securities regulators and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact Information:

TransCanada
Media Enquiries:
Terry Cunha/Shawn Howard
403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859

TransCanada
Investor & Analyst Enquiries:
David Moneta/Terry Hook/Lee Evans
403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522
www.transcanada.com