Enbridge ready for new projects

Gary Park

Enbridge has more than C$1 billion in its back pocket to take advantage of an impending development boom, said Chief Executive Officer Pat Daniel.

He said the Calgary-based energy services firm intends to “lever our way into what is a forecasted wave of C$60 billion worth of North American infrastructure development.”

Daniel said Enbridge has identified a “very robust list of potential organic projects,” including regional oil sands projects, new export pipelines, Alaska North Slope gas and carbon dioxide pipelines.

The biggest deal on Enbridge’s books at present is a proposed C$2.5 billion pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the British Columbia coast for tanker shipment to Asia.

Daniel said there is no sign that continued rising costs in the oil sands sector will delay the 450,000-barrel-per-day Gateway pipeline, which has been targeted for start-up this decade.

“If anything, the pressure is on us to try to move that project along as quickly as possible to meet a late 2008 or 2009 timeframe,” Daniel told analysts Nov. 4.