Enbridge in talks about Mainline pipeline expansion [Video]

Enbridge Inc. has begun talks with its customers about expanding its Mainline pipeline network to handle growing volumes of Canadian oil output, the Calgary-based company said Friday.

“We have commenced commercial discussions with the industry. We’ve spent the quarter engineering the expansion,” said Colin Gruending, president of liquids pipelines for Enbridge, on a conference call with analysts.

While Enbridge doesn’t have a cost estimate yet for the project, Gruending added, the expansion could be in-service as early as 2026 or 2027. He emphasized it would be a small expansion that would add incremental capacity along the existing pipeline network, which has already been expanded many times over the course of its 75-year history.

“It’s really more of an optimization, not a retrenching or a new path. It’s in the (existing) right-of-way … it’s very executable,” Gruending said.

Enbridge’s Mainline system is the largest pipeline system in North America, moving crude …