Enbridge puts Trailbreaker pipeline expansion on hold

CALGARY, Alta. - Enbridge Inc. has shelved plans for a $346-million pipeline expansion that would have shipped western Canadian crude through Ontario and Quebec to markets in the United States.
The company said on Jan. 16 that the project, dubbed Trailbreaker, did not have the required support among oil companies, which would have had to commit firm volumes to the pipeline.
"Given the current economic climate, we're putting the project on hold," Enbridge spokeswoman Jennifer Varey said from Calgary, where the company is based.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the industry lobby group, had declined to support the pipeline expansion because it did not offer attractive returns for western producers.
The company planned to ship 150,000 b/d of diluted oilsand bitumen sent by pipeline through Sarnia, Ont., to Portland, Me., then by tanker to the Gulf Coast. The project would have required Enbridge to reverse the flow of a pipeline that now moves imported crude from Montreal to refineries in Sarnia.