Enbridge expects growth for 2026 as new projects enter service, raises dividend

CALGARY – Enbridge Inc. is raising its dividend and targeting a four per cent bump in earnings and cash flow next year, along with $10 billion in growth spending.

“We are forecasting another year of steady and predictable growth driven by new projects entering service, as well as strong utilization and optimization of existing assets,” CEO Greg Ebel said in a news release Wednesday. 

Canada’s biggest oil pipeline operator said it will pay a quarterly dividend of 97 cents per share beginning March 1, up from 94.25 cents per share.

The new dividend rate equates to an annual yield of nearly 5.8 per cent based Enbridge’s closing share price on Tuesday.

News of the higher shareholder payout came as Enbridge said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes and depreciation between $20.2 billion and $20.8 billion for 2026. 

Of that, roughly $9.6 billion is expected to come from its liquids pipelines business next year, which it expects to deliver volumes and performance on par with 2025. 

Distributable cash flow per share is forecast between $5.70 and $6.10 for next year, marking a four per cent increase from the midpoint in Enbridge’s 2025 guidance. 

“We have approximately $8 billion of new projects entering service in 2026 across our franchises, all of which are underpinned by low-risk commercial frameworks,” Ebel said. 

Among the new projects starting up are natural gas pipeline expansions in Tennessee and British Columbia.

The company is budgeting $10 billion in growth capital, which doesn’t include funds set aside for maintenance. 

It is assuming volumes on its cross-Canada Mainline of 3.05 million barrels a day next year. 

Last month, Enbridge gave the green light to a US$1.4-billion plan to send more oilsands crude south of the border. 

That includes a decision to proceed with the first phase of its Mainline Optimization project, which will see 150,000 barrels per day of capacity added to that vast system, the backbone of the country’s oil transport infrastructure that taps into the U.S. Midwest. 

The plan will also add 100,000 barrels per day of capacity to the Flanagan South system, enabling greater volumes to flow from Illinois to the U.S. Gulf Coast. That’s the site of the world’s largest refining complex where facilities are well equipped to process heavy oilsands crude as imports from Venezuela and Mexico wane. 

Enbridge has said a second Mainline Optimization phase could add another 250,000 barrels per day of capacity in 2028, making use of the existing Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to southern Illinois. It intends to gauge customer interest in that project early next year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)