Enbridge

Enbridge is the third largest pipeline company operating in the US (by revenue), and is ranked #343 on the Fortune 500 for 2008. It took in $250 million in 2007 profits. Enbridge operates in Canada and the US and is the world's longest crude oil and liquid petroleum pipeline system. The company owns and operates Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and a variety of affiliated pipelines in Canada. It also has an 11% interest in Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., a publicly-traded master limited partnership and a leader in energy transportation in the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions of the US. Enbridge is also the sponsor and manager of the Enbridge Income Fund.

=Pipeline Expansions= Enbridge is proposing a number of expansion projects “to help address current and future increases in refinery demand as supply from western Canada's vast oil sands increases.” It is doing so with a tremendous amount of private bank support. 


 * The Northern Gateway Pipelines Project is a proposal to construct twin pipeline running from Bruderheim, Alberta, to Kitimat, British Columbia. The eastbound pipeline would import natural gas condensate and the westbound pipeline would export bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands diluted with the condensate to the new marine terminal in Kitimat where it would be transported to Asian markets by oil tankers. The project was proposed in mid-2000s and has been postponed several times.
 * Southern Access, an expansion and extension of Enbridge’s existing pipeline system, including pump station modifications in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and new pipeline in Wisconsin and Illinois, to increase crude oil capacity to Midwest refineries and beyond.
 * Alberta Clipper, a new crude oil pipeline from Alberta to Superior, Wis. to increase capacity of the Enbridge system by 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) and later be expandable up to 800,000 bpd.
 * North Dakota System Expansion Phase 6, an expansion of the North Dakota System, referred to as NDSE6, will increase pipeline capacity from 110,000 bpd to approximately 161,600 bpd of delivery capacity into the Enbridge Clearbrook Terminal Facility in Clearbrook, Minn. NDSE6 is scheduled to be complete in early 2010.
 * Southern Lights, a liquid petroleum pipeline from Chicago through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota to transport light hydrocarbons, or "diluents" to the Canadian oil sands area of Alberta. The project also involves the LSr Project, which will construct a 20-inch crude oil pipeline from Cromer, Manitoba, to Clearbrook, Minn., to replace the capacity of an existing Enbridge pipeline that will be reversed to transport diluent.

Spills
On July 25, 2010, a 40-foot long segment of Enbridge's PipeLine 6B ruptured and spilled more than 1 million gallons of diluted bitumen (a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons) into 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River, Michigan. As of 2012 the leak has cost Enbridge $725-million and U.S. taxpayers another $37-million in clean-up bills."Spill Crisis: 'Whatever, We're Going Home'"

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Tar sands
 * Stephen J. J. Letwin