Enbridge says federal support for oil and gas not yet clear

The Enbridge logo is shown at the company's annual meeting in Calgary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — The head of Enbridge Inc. says he’s encouraged by conversations in both Canada and the U.S. on building more energy infrastructure, but that it remains to be seen what concrete action will result at home.

“I’m optimistic about our ongoing conversations and the alignment we’re seeing today on both sides of the border to advance projects and legislation,” said Greg Ebel, chief executive of Calgary-based Enbridge on a Friday call to discuss second-quarter results

But while both governments are talking, project plans and customer demand is being drawn more to the U.S., he said.

“Our customers at this point in time really want to go south,” said Ebel. “That’s the premium market.”

The company reported earnings of $2.18 billion for the quarter ending June 30, up from $1.85 billion in the same quarter last year, as Ebel touted its stable returns and wide array of potential projects to take on.

As Enbridge completes capacity expansions to the U.S. Gulf Coast, it could look to projects to serve the Canadian West Coast, but it’s still not clear how much government support there is for such projects.

“The issue is one of government policy setting the conditions for that to get investment to occur. Let’s be honest, the government has not done that yet, and it’s not clear they intend to, at least from our perspective.”

He pointed to both the oilsands emissions cap and the West Coast tanker ban as barriers to building a new oil pipeline. A natural gas pipeline would have been slightly easier, but the issue is also that any Canadian project will have to compete on returns with projects in the U.S., he said.

“Only those projects and those jurisdictions that provide better returns, i.e., lower build multiples, are going to get serviced, right? So I would tell you right now, that’s a challenge to do more in a place like British Columbia or even Ontario relative to Ohio or, say, Texas.”

The U.S. both has more export capacity to global markets, while the Trump administration is also working to strip environmental reviews and open up protected land to boost oil and gas production.

The U.S. government is also actively cutting funding and permits for renewable projects, but Ebel said the actions aren’t expected to affect Enbridge’s already sanctioned projects.

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is not expected to impact any of our sanctioned projects, but we’ll continue to monitor future developments in this fast moving policy environment.”

Enbridge said its adjusted earnings worked out to $1.42 billion for the quarter, up from $1.25 billion last year.

Adjusted earnings was 65 cents per common share, compared to 58 cents per share last year.

The mean analyst estimate had been for earnings of 57 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Ebel said steady demand and low-risk commercial frameworks have led to predictable results despite geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.