Pipeline company Enbridge unfazed by rival oil shipping projects

CALGARY –  

An executive with Enbridge Inc. says the company is unfazed by rival oil pipeline expansions likely to jockey for oilsands producers’ business, including a revival of sorts for the defunct Keystone XL proposal. 

If anything, the stepped-up competition is a good sign, said Colin Gruending, who leads Enbridge’s liquids pipelines business. 

“We’ve seen other competitors respond to the quite favourable outlook in the Canadian basin, which is not surprising,” Gruending told analysts on a conference call to discuss first-quarter results Friday. 

If customers do sign long-term contracts on a competing proposal, Gruending said he would “view it as a positive sign and a vote of confidence in the basin and in the outlook.”

Chief executive Greg Ebel said the macroeconomic landscape is the strongest he’s seen in more than a decade, as the global oil and gas supply crunch, triggered by the war in the Middle East, drives up demand for the services Enbridge provides. 

“It’s actually lining up to be a super favourable environment for oil infrastructure in North America, both domestically and export-wise.”

Calgary-based Enbridge is in the midst of expanding its vast network in Canada and the United States, including the Canadian Mainline which is the backbone of Canada’s oil transportation infrastructure and also feeds crude to markets south of the border. 

Work on an initial 150,000-barrel-a-day phase of its Mainline Optimization Program is underway. Enbridge expects to make a decision on whether to proceed with a second 250,000-barrel-a-day phase later this year. To support the second phase, Enbridge has launched formal processes to gauge customer interest in two U.S. pipeline expansions serving the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

Gruending said an advantage of a Mainline expansion is the relative speed at which it could get up and running, as it would boost output from existing infrastructure and not require new pipe at a large scale. 

Earlier Friday, Enbridge reported a first-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of $1.67 billion, down from $2.26 billion a year earlier. That amounted to 77 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, down from $1.04 per share in the same quarter last year.

On an adjusted basis, Enbridge says it earned 98 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.03 per share in the first quarter of 2025.

Enbridge competitor South Bow has its own cross-border pipeline plans in the works with a project called Prairie Connector. It is now going over bids it received for a project that would carry Alberta crude to the Canada-U.S. border and various points south, using dormant infrastructure that had been meant for the long-dead Keystone XL expansion project.

Prairie Connector could link up with a separate project being pursued by Bridger Pipeline LLC from Wyoming to the Canada-U.S. border, which recently received a permit from U.S. President Donald Trump. 

“This represents a meaningful development in the permitting process for cross-border energy infrastructure and one that has understandably attracted its fair share of attention,” South Bow chief executive Bevin Wirzba told his own company’s quarterly conference call Friday. 

“That said, we are continuing to work diligently to ensure any project we advance is within our risk preferences and that risks are allocated appropriately among the parties best positioned to manage and mitigate them.”

Some have cast a Bridger-Prairie Connector project as a resurrection of Keystone XL, a troubled proposal that several years ago became a proxy for the broader battle against climate change. 

The saga was marked by pipeline reroutes, lawsuits, political showdowns and high-profile protests. Former president Barack Obama nixed the pipeline — twice — only to have President Donald Trump reinstate its permit during his first term. Former president Joe Biden pulled the plug on the pipeline again on his first day in the White House in 2021. 

To be comfortable making a final investment decision on Prairie Connector, South Bow would have to nail down the “typical elements” like its contracting strategy, supply chain, procurement and cost estimates, Wirzba said. 

But it doesn’t end there. 

“We need to ensure that we manage and mitigate any last-mile risk that could occur on the project in the future,” Wirzba said. 

“We’re seeing great alignment among the regulatory environment in both Canada and the United States, but we cannot expose our shareholders to risks that they cannot bear, nor can we.”

Late Thursday, South Bow posted first-quarter net income of US$77 million, down from US$88 million during the same period of 2025.   The profit amounted to 37 cents US per share versus a year-earlier 42 cents US.   

South Bow, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported its revenue fell to US$491 million from US$498 million.   

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2026.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB) (TSX:SOBO)