TransCanada Corp's chief operating officer, Alex Pourbaix, is retiring from the company in May, a TransCanada spokesman said March 28.

"I can confirm Alex has made the personal decision to retire," TransCanada spokesman James Millar said. "He will be [at] the company until the end of May."

Pourbaix was previously president of development for TransCanada, responsible for overseeing growth projects including the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which finally received a U.S. presidential permit last week.