TC Energy Corp. has revived a five-year-old trade damages claim topping $15 billion against the U.S. government for refusing to let the Keystone XL oil export project have a construction permit.

Keystone XL

Notice of the legacy claim, based on fairness rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), was filed Friday with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser, said the Calgary-based pipeline and power conglomerate.

Transition provisions of the current United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which replaced NAFTA a year ago, enabled the move. TC said a U.S. government “breach of its NAFTA obligations” caused the claimed damages.

The new action repeats a claim that TC filed in January 2016 after the Obama administration denied Keystone a permit to...