Enbridge's $27 Billion in Active Projects Fueled by Pipeline Overhauls, Windfarm Growth

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Enbridge Incorporated (NYSE:ENB) (Calgary, Alberta) was back in the black in third-quarter 2017, after new natural gas, liquids and utility assets from its recent acquisition of Spectra Energy helped to put earnings at $765 million, compared with a $103 million loss in the same period last year. The company also made significant strides on major transmission and wind-energy projects. Industrial Info is tracking more than $27 billion in active projects involving Enbridge, including almost $14 billion that are nearing or under construction.

Enbridge's list of priorities is topped by its massive Line 3 Replacement Project, which is expected to cost $7 billion and overhaul 1,200 miles of pipeline from the Alberta Oil Sands near Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. Capacity on the line is expected to double to 760,000 barrels per day (BBL/d). Two segments under construction are the $750 million segment running from Hardisty to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, which covers 180 miles, and the $1.89 billion segment running from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border, which covers 450 miles. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Alberta and Saskatchewan segments.

Enbridge expects to receive approval from Minnesota for the state's portion in the second quarter of 2018 and to begin operations in the second half of 2019; work already is underway in Wisconsin. A separate Enbridge line runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to northern Illinois. Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) (Findlay, Ohio) is considering a reversal on its Capline pipeline, which currently ships 300,000 BBL/d of crude oil from St. James, Louisiana, to Patoka, Illinois; Enbridge sees it as an opportunity to expand its pipeline network to the Gulf Coast. If Capline instead were to ship from Illinois to Louisiana, Enbridge could expand its pipelines that reach Illinois, or partner with Marathon to provide a path for its oil sands-sourced crude to the Gulf Coast, according to Reuters.

In the Great Lakes region, two segment of Enbridge's 250-mile Nexus Gas Transmission Pipeline are set to begin construction in the near term: the $450 million line from northeastern Ohio to southern Michigan, which covers 200 miles, and the $125 million line from southern Michigan to southern Ontario, which covers 50 miles. The line sources natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays and will carry up to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Ohio-to-Michigan and Michigan-to-Ontario segments.

Last month, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order clearing Nexus for construction. In a quarterly earnings-related conference call last week, Al Monaco, the chief executive officer of Enbridge, called Nexus "a critical outlet for Marcellus and Utica gas, but also for Michigan and Ohio markets--and, of course, in Ontario--to serve our 3.5 million gas-distribution customers. It comes with strong demand pull contracts, and it's well-positioned to attract growing gas-fired generation and power load."

Elsewhere in the U.S., Enbridge recently began service on one of its most important wind-energy projects: the $335 million Chapman Ranch Windfarm near Corpus Christi, Texas. The facility consists of 81 steel towers, each mounted by a 3.1-megawatt (MW) generator from Acciona S.A. (Madrid, Spain), for a total output of 249 MW that will be fueled by Texas' coastal winds. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Enbridge has invested $7.4 billion to renewable power projects since 2002. In addition to its own projects, the company is providing services on three offshore windfarms that are among the highest-valued power projects in Europe: Electricite de France S.A.'s (EDF) (Paris, France) $2.9 billion windfarm near Courseulles-sur-Mer, involves 75 towers, each with a 6-MW turbine, for a total output of 450; EDF's $2.3 billion windfarm near Guerande, France, which involves 80 towers with 6-MW turbines, for a total of 480 MW; and EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG's (Karlsruhe, Germany) $2.1 billion Hohe See Windfarm in the North Sea's German Bight, near Germany, which will feature 71 towers with 7-MW turbines, for a total of 497 MW.

The French projects remain in their planning and scheduling phases, but the German project began construction in September and is set to wrap up in the middle of 2019. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Courseulles-sur-Mer, Guerande and German Bight windfarms, and May 15, 2017, article - EnBW to Build Albatros Windfarm in North Sea.

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