A $2.1 billion project to move crude oil from Canada to Illinois would involve burying pipeline in parts of Missouri and Kansas.

The 1,840-mile Keystone pipeline, which would run from Alberta to the ConocoPhillips Co. refinery in Wood River, Ill., would cut across three Canadian provinces and six states, including Missouri and Kansas. TransCanada Corp. of Calgary said it plans to have the proposed pipeline running in 2009.

A second project would create a 295-mile extension of the Keystone pipeline to a hub at Cushing, Okla., along a route through central Kansas near Wichita.

Brian Peterson, TransCanada’s manager for the Keystone project, said he and other company officials have been conducting informational meetings for people living near the proposed pipeline route. He said the meetings, which began Nov. 7 in North Dakota, continue this week in the St. Louis area.

After slicing through the eastern Dakotas and Nebraska, the new Keystone line would turn southeast across northeastern Kansas and enter Missouri north of Kansas City and on to Patoka, Ill.

Oil received there could be sent to the Wood River refinery or redistributed through other pipelines. Wood River, the nation’s 10th-largest refinery, is a key supplier of fuel to the St. Louis area.

TransCanada planned to negotiate 50- to 60-foot pipeline easements with affected property owners, Peterson said. The top of the 30-inch pipeline, typically, would be 4 feet below the ground’s surface. The line, carrying as much as 435,000 barrels daily, would dip at least 30 feet below the bottom of the Mississippi River.

• TransCanada.com: Keystone pipeline project