WASHINGTON — The company pleading for permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline looked beyond President Obama on Tuesday in apparent hopes a future Republican president would green light the project. But the administration signaled it was in no mood to hand off the decision to the winner of the 2016 election.

TransCanada insisted its request for the U.S. to suspend its review of the proposed project had nothing to do with presidential politics even though a delay could thrust the decision a year or more into the future, likely putting it in the hands of Obama’s successor. Questioning the motivation for the Canadian energy giant’s request, the White House said “there might be politics at play” and Obama still intended to make the decision.

A Keystone pumping station, with which the proposed Keystone XL pipeline will connect, is seen in Steele City, Neb. A Republican win in 2016 could spell approval for the XL. The Associated Press

It was an unusual reversal of roles for TransCanada, which complained bitterly for years about Obama’s delays before suddenly requesting one of its own. Likewise, Obama’s administration, after seven years of delay, seemed to discover a newfound sense of urgency when faced with the prospect of letting the next president make the call.

The State Department, the official arbiter of the pipeline permit, said it was considering TransCanada’s new request but in the meantime the pipeline review would move forward unabated.

“We’d like to finish this review process as swiftly as possible,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said Tuesday. That was 2,601 days after TransCanada first proposed the $8 billion project.

For TransCanada, a delay into 2017 might improve the prospects for approval – if a Republican wins the White House. The GOP presidential field is unanimous in its support for Keystone, while Obama has downplayed its benefits and emphasized environmental risks, setting up a high bar for approval.

All of the major Democratic candidates oppose it – including front-runner Hillary Clinton, who oversaw the early phase of the pipeline review as Obama’s first-term secretary of state.

Ahead of TransCanada’s request, Keystone supporters had feared Obama would seize on a brief window between Canada’s recent elections and the conclusion of global climate talks next month to kill the project in grand fashion, solidifying his environmental bona fides. Obama hopes to make a global climate pact the capstone of his environmental legacy and has sought to show aggressive action to curb carbon dioxide emissions as world leaders prepare to finalize an agreement in Paris.

For Obama, the 1,179-mile proposed pipeline has swelled over the years into a behemoth political hot potato. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama had sought to “shield this process from politics,” but the president’s delays have only injected more politics and posturing into the national debate.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a vocal Keystone supporter, said it would be inconsistent for Obama to reject TransCanada’s request since the company has worked diligently to meet every legal and regulatory hurdle.

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