Pipeline planner TransCanada Corp. said Thursday it filed a formal application for its Energy East pipeline project for eastern Canadian oil refineries.

The Energy East oil pipeline involves the construction of a new 930-mile segment and converting 1,800 miles of gas line for oil service. It's designed to carry 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to eastern Canadian refineries.

"Energy East will also eliminate the need for Eastern Canada to import most of the 700,000 barrels it consumes every day," Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

TransCanada said Energy East would make eastern Canadian refineries more competitive because they'd be sourced by domestic crude and bring in more than $7 billion in tax revenues during its first 20 years of operation.

Critics of the project said it's filled with empty promises because it would serve primarily as an export pipeline.

TransCanada says it would likely cost around $12 billion to complete the project. If approved, deliveries to eastern Canadian markets are expected by late 2018.

TransCanada is awaiting a U.S. decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. An application for that project was submitted more than six years ago. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said this week from Ottawa a decision on Keystone XL should be expected "sooner rather than later."