Enbridge spending US$1.4B to send crude to U.S. despite broader ‘elbows up’ sentiment

The Enbridge Cheecham Terminal, an oil storage terminal, southeast of Fort McMurray, Alta. is shown on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken

The country’s largest oil shipper has given the green light to a US$1.4-billion plan to send more oilsands crude south of the border, even as trade tensions drive broader efforts to diversify Canada’s export markets beyond the United States. 

Enbridge Inc. announced Friday that it will proceed with the first phase of its Mainline Optimization project, which will see 150,000 barrels per day of capacity added to its vast cross-Canada 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. 

Colin Gruending, Enbridge’s president of liquids pipelines, said even with all the “elbows up” sentiment percolating in Canada, the U.S. market still makes the most sense to prioritize for oil exports, followed by Asia via the West Coast.

“We all want to support Canada,” he told a web conference with reporters, noting the green Saskatchewan Roughriders football jersey he was wearing.

But he said Canada needs revenue from all the customers it can get, or risk squandering its massive oilsands riches. And “national-interest” projects working their way through the new federal fast-track review process under the Major Projects Office — an effort to reduce reliance on the United States — are going to take time. 

“It makes sense to strengthen our relationship and grow our economy in the meantime,” said Gruending. “I think a better energy industry is a better Canada.”

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. 

Rather than building a whole new pipeline from scratch, Enbridge is among the pipeline companies looking to expand throughput via additional pump stations and other improvements to existing networks. 

Trans Mountain Corp., which ships oilsands crude to the Vancouver area for export, has said it plans to take a similar approach, looking at lower-cost, quicker ways to boost volumes with additional pumping power and chemical additives that enable a faster flow.

There have also been discussions about once again bringing the Keystone XL pipeline back from the dead. 

The existing Keystone system now owned by South Bow Corp. delivers oilsands crude to refineries in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. The ill-fated XL expansion first pitched in 2008 would have added capacity, along with a section of new pipe providing a more direct route to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Keystone XL has been repeatedly killed and resurrected by successive U.S. administrations over the years, and President Donald Trump has said he wants to see it once again revived. Prime Minister Mark Carney has floated the prospect with Trump within the context of broader trade talks. 

South Bow chief executive Bevin Wirzba told an analyst conference call Friday that his company is always looking at making the most out of capital it’s already spent. But he said South Bow has not been involved in the Trump-Carney pipeline conversations. 

“To be honest, that’s way above our pay grade,” he said. 

“We’re obviously watching and encouraged by the ongoing dialogue between Canada and the U.S., but I can’t really speak any more detail to what’s going on behind closed doors that we’re not a part of.”

For Enbridge’s part, Gruending said he doesn’t see a glut of Canada-to-U.S. pipelines being a problem. 

“We really haven’t been challenged with overbuild out of the (Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin) really ever,” he said. 

“I’ve worked at the company 26 years and the basin’s been under-piped basically the whole time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2025.