Enbridge Inc News

Canada is taking a second crack at developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry on its west coast a decade after soaring costs and indigenous opposition derailed a previous wave of proposed LNG terminals.This time, companies are focusing on smaller west coast projects they bet will be cheaper and faster to build."Smaller project are easier to manage, especially in Canada," Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco told Reuters in an interview. "The need for global LNG is clearer now than it was before, we're getting a second chance and I hope we don't blow it this time.

Belgian offshore installation firm DEME Offshore said Thursday it had installed the first offshore wind substation in France, at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm site. The installation of the 2,100-ton substation was carried out by Allseas' giant Pioneering Spirit vessel.This was also Allseas’ first job for the offshore wind industry, and it is the first “complete” installation job executed by Pioneering Spirit, as it installed the 50-meter tall supporting structure last weekend."The…

Enterprise Products Partners LP is working with U.S. officials to advance an offshore crude terminal project after the review schedule was suspended last week, the company said.Enterprise and Enbridge Inc agreed late last year to jointly develop a U.S. Gulf Coast crude export terminal known as Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) that would load supertankers off Freeport, Texas.The application review schedule was suspended after SPOT Terminal Services LLC said it needed additional time to fully respond to information requests, according to a June 4 letter by the United States Coast Guard and Maritime Administration (MARAD).The USCG and MARAD have requested more information such as the project description and a list of landowners that would be affected…

Houston liquefied natural gas company Annova LNG has signed a 20-year supply deal with Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company that owns a 10.5 percent stake in Annova's proposed export terminal.The precedent agreement with Enbridge Inc.’s Valley Crossing Pipeline LLC (VCP) would provide transportation for the still unsanctioned 6.5 million metric tons/year (mmty) facility, which was approved by federal regulators in November.Under the deal, the existing 2.6 Bcf/d VCP from Agua Dulce to Brownsville would be expanded, and a roughly nine-mile lateral connecting VCP to Annova’s facility would be constructed.“Annova LNG’s firm transportation arrangements will ensure security of supply and access to the most diversified, low-cost feed gas of any of the U.S.

The first steel sheet of the electrical substation for the offshore wind farm (OWF) of Saint-Nazaire (west of France) was cut at Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire.Ordered in August 2019 by Parc du Banc de Guérande, held jointly by EDF Renouvelables and Enbridge Inc, the substation will leave the shipyard in the summer of 2021, to be connected  with the wind farm in 2022. The substation will collect and transform the electricity produced by wind turbines and transfer it to the shore network, while ensuring remote control of the wind farm.The same consortium, led by Atlantique Offshore Energy (the business unit dedicated…

Enbridge Inc and Enterprise Products Partners LP on Monday signed an agreement to jointly develop a deepwater offshore crude oil export terminal in the Gulf of Mexico capable of loading Very Large Crude Carriers.Both pipeline operators will work to finalize an equity participation agreement that would provide Enbridge an option to purchase ownership interest in Enterprise's Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), subject to SPOT receiving a deep-water port license, Enbridge said in a statement.The companies would first jointly develop the SPOT project, and depending on how the export market grows, would utilize Enbridge's Texas COLT deep-water port or a similar project."Enbridge and Enterprise Products are partners in the Seaway Pipeline system.

Kinder Morgan Inc has dropped out of a recently proposed U.S. Gulf Coast deepwater crude export venture, the project's leader Enbridge Inc said on Monday.The $800 million project, known as Texas COLT, is one of eight similar projects proposing facilities that would move U.S. shale to overseas markets by loading supertankers able to carry up to 2 million barrels apiece.Pipeline operators Enbridge and Kinder Morgan disclosed plans to build an crude export terminal off Freeport, Texas, in January, and filed permit applications with the U.S. Maritime Administration. German oil storage firm Oiltanking Partners remains committed to the project, said Enbridge."The project does not align with our strategic priorities," Kinder Morgan spokeswoman Lexey Long said.

Moda Midstream LLC is considering building a second berth at its Ingleside, Texas, crude export terminal to accommodate booming shale oil production on the Gulf Coast, the company's chief executive said on Thursday.The expansion to the terminal that loads oil tankers will come as three major pipelines open in the second half of 2019, CEO Bo McCall said in an interview. Moda is also increasing the facility's crude storage capacity to 10 million barrels from 2 million."When these new pipelines come online…

Seaway Crude Pipeline Company LLC, a joint venture between Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge Inc, plans to load its first supertanker this month at its Texas City marine terminal:* VLCC FPMC C Melody will be loaded with about 1.1 million bbls (2-million-bbl capacity); remaining crude to be transferred in a lightering zone* The VLCC was anchored near Houston as of Wednesday - Thomson Reuters vessel tracking data/shipping source* Enterprise said Midland-Sealy pipeline reached full service capabilities in April and is currently moving volumes at full capacity* Enterprise is evaluating an NGL pipeline conversion to crude to add capacity* Enterprise crude exports were about 724,000 bpd in May-presentation Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler

Canada's Liberal government has introduced legislation for a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of the British Columbia province, the country's transport department said on Friday, delivering on an election promise. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the ban soon after the election in 2015, in which he took power on a pledge to balance resource development with protecting the environment. Friday's bill will likely pass because Trudeau's Liberals hold a majority in Parliament.

Royal Dutch Shell has been shortlisted by the U.S. government to make a bid for an offshore wind project licence in the waters off North Carolina, as it comes under pressure from shareholders to diversify into green energy. Shell, as well as Norway's Statoil, qualified to participate in the upcoming leasing round offshore Kitty Hawk, the U.S. interior ministry said on Tuesday. The lease award is set for March 16. Shell's core business of producing oil and gas is reeling after more than two years of weak prices. The company has limited experience in building offshore wind farms but last month won a bid to build a 700-megawatt offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, together with more experienced partners.

The two-year oil price crash has hurt a Canadian government program that funds research on oil spill cleanups, resulting in fewer applicants than expected, a senior federal official said. As a result, the government will expand the scope of its Oil Spill Response Science Program and open a second call for applications this month, Marc Wickham, Natural Resources Canada's director of energy science and technology programs, said in an interview late last week. The program funds research that improves cleanup methods for marine oil spills. Those eligible include production, pipeline and shipping companies in the energy sector. Wickham spoke with Reuters after it obtained details of the program's amendment through an access-to-information request.

At least two offshore oil platforms halted operations on Tuesday in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after a fire at a natural gas processing plant in Mississippi shut a crucial pipeline that brings output onshore, several companies said. The fire at Enterprise Products Partners plant in Pascagoula was brought under control, but officials were still forced to close the 225-mile Destin gas pipeline system that can carry 1.2 billion cubic feet per day from offshore fields to Pascagoula. Destin, majority-owned by BP with Enbridge Inc a minority partner, said it was declaring force majeure, a legal clause that allows it to scrap commitments, as a result of the fire.

Canada will push ahead with a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia, effectively slamming the door on a controversial pipeline project that was already facing massive development hurdles. In a letter released on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed Transport Minister Marc Garneau to work with numerous other ministries to "formalize" the ban on oil tanker traffic, a Liberal campaign promise ahead of the federal elections last month.

The Canadian province of Alberta, the biggest source of U.S. oil imports, announced the members of its climate change policy review panel on Friday, part of its pledge to implement new rules on greenhouse gas reductions. Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said the panel would offer recommendations to the government by early November, ahead of a key United Nations climate change conference in Paris in December, but did not say when new GHG targets are likely to come into effect. The five members of the panel are University of Alberta energy economist Andrew Leach, former Suncor Energy executive Gord Lambert, Enbridge Inc executive Linda Coady, Pembina Institute board member Stephanie Cairns and Angela Adams, a Metis Fort McMurray school district trustee.

Canadian oil storage and transport company Gibson Energy Inc said on Monday it is building 900,000 barrels of crude oil storage at its terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, after receiving sufficient support from shippers. The company will build a 500,000 barrel tank backed by a long-term contract with Teck Resources Ltd, a partner in the Fort Hills oil sands project and a new customer for Gibson Energy, and another 400,000 tank. The new storage is expected to be in service by mid-2017. RBC Capital Markets strategist Robert Kwan said against the backdrop of weak benchmark crude prices, Gibson Energy's ability to sign long-term contracts with customers to underpin of new storage should be viewed as a positive.

President Barack Obama's sharpest criticism yet of Keystone XL this weekend included a controversial contention that the huge pipeline would be used to pump Canadian oil sands crude to global markets, not to U.S. refiners. TransCanada Corp., the pipeline giant that has been waiting six years for U.S. approval to build the $8 billion line, strongly denies it and says it is constructing the 1,179-mile (1,900-km) conduit only to serve import-dependant Gulf Coast refiners, weaning them away from supplies of heavy crude from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The truth, experts say, lies somewhere in between. The 830,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline helping link Canada's oil sands to the Gulf Coast was conceived six years ago to supply U.S. customers. Since then, however, the U.S.

Canada's largest oil and gas producer, Suncor Energy Inc, is shipping its first ever tanker of Western Canadian heavy crude from Canada's East Coast to Europe, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal confirmed Reuters shipping data that shows the aframax tanker Minerva Gloria was set to pick up a cargo of crude oil from the port of Sorel-Tracy on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Seetal declined to comment on where in Europe the crude cargo is going, citing commercial confidentiality. According to Reuters data it will be discharged in the Mediterranean. The crude was delivered by rail to a storage facility in Sorel-Tracy that is owned by Kildair Service Ltd.

City councilors in South Portland, Maine, voted late Monday night to ban the loading of crude oil onto tankers along its waterfront, throwing up yet another roadblock to the export of Canadian oil sands crude and setting up a showdown with industry which called the process illegal. The city of 25,000, known for its scenic lighthouses and sweeping views of the island-speckled waters of Casco Bay, is also the east coast's second largest oil port, located at the southern terminus of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline, which currently flows north to Canada.

Canada unveiled new rules on Wednesday to enhance pipeline safety and spill response, ahead of the development of new projects proposed to carry crude from Alberta's oil sands to coastal ports for export. The new legislation will give Canada's energy regulator, the National Energy Board (NEB), more power to enforce compliance on safety and the authority to step in to lead spill response if a company is unwilling or unable to do so. Companies will also now be held liable, up to C$1 billion ($917 million), for all spills or incidents on their lines, whether or not they are at-fault or negligent, putting the onus on owners to ensure safe operations.

Canada moved on Tuesday to strengthen its response plan for oil spills at sea ahead of the development of new pipelines that would sharply increase tanker traffic in Canadian waters if they are built. Among the new measures, the federal government said it would remove a per-incident liability cap on a domestic clean-up fund, which means that all the money in the fund could be made available to clean up a single spill. It also pledged to cover spill costs if clean-up funds were exhausted. It also said it will lift its ban on the use of dispersants in cases when using them offers a net environmental benefit. Dispersants are chemicals that break down oil slicks but can also harm marine life.

A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission judge annulled committed shipper rates on the Cushing-to-Texas Seaway pipeline on Friday, despite objections from energy companies who say it could jeopardize billions in infrastructure investment. The case arose from motions filed by oil companies against uncommitted shipper rates on the 400,000 barrels-per-day pipeline, which gives U.S. Gulf Coast refiners access to Canadian heavy crude and American oil. The federal regulator had struck the judge's initial decision in March and remanded it to her review, saying her arguments misconstrued long-held commission policy. The commission honors so-called committed shipper rates, which midstream companies enter with long-term shippers in order to finance their costly projects.

Six years after applying to build the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada's frustrated oil industry appears steadfast in its support of the plan even though Washington has again delayed a decision on whether to approve the politically charged project. The reason is simple: A massive new pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast remains the most elegant solution for producers looking to export burgeoning supplies of crude from Canada's oil sands to the United States. TransCanada Corp's $5.4 billion pipeline would seamlessly pump enough crude from Alberta to Texas to meet 4 percent of total U.S. demand. "We're definitely supportive of the project," said Brad Bellows, a spokesman for MEG Energy Corp, which produces crude from Alberta's oil sands though it has not committed to ship on Keystone.