Canada’s Enbridge back in black in Q1
Canadian energy infrastructure company Enbridge said May 7 it had reversed last year’s first quarter loss of C$1.4bn (US$1.15bn) with GAAP earnings of C$1.9bn in Q1 2021. Earnings last year were negatively impacted by a C$1.3bn after-tax impairment on the carrying value of Enbridge’s investment in DCP Midstream and by a C$1.5bn after-tax non-cash loss on the mark-to-market value of financial derivatives used to manage foreign exchange risk.
Adjusted earnings slipped to C$1.6bn from C$1.7bn, while adjusted EBITDA slipped to C$3.7bn from C$3.8bn. Distributable cash flow increased slightly, to C$2.76bn from C$2.71bn.
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“We’ve had a strong start to the year,” Enbridge CEO Al Monaco said. “Each of our four blue-chip businesses were very highly utilised in the first quarter, reflecting their resilient demand-pull franchises, top-notch customers and the ongoing recovery of global economic activity.”
While Enbridge continued to maintain energy services to its customers through the COVID-19 pandemic, it also advanced the strategic priorities set out late last year in a C$17bn secured capital programme that is expected to deliver C$2bn of incremental EBITDA annually. “We’re…on track to deliver C$10bn of that programme into service this year,” Monaco said.
Included among those projects are the C$1bn T-South reliability and expansion programme and the C$500mn Spruce Ridge project in BC, which are expected to be fully in-service by Q4 2021.
Enbridge announced its aspirations last November to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and has linked those aspirations to its company-wide compensation programme. Projects designed to achieve its ESG goals – including net-zero and enhanced diversity – are already in service or being developed, Monaco said.
“We’re very excited about our zero emissions investment opportunities that will support our core businesses and help us achieve our ESG goals,” he said. “This quarter, we put our first solar self-powering facility along our liquids mainline into service and sanctioned a second phase comprised of four projects, which will further support our emissions reduction goals. In addition, a second facility on our Texas Eastern system in gas transmission should start producing power in May, giving us three solar self-power facilities in operation.”
Low-carbon energy projects are also underway, including a hydrogen blending project in Markham, Ontario, four renewable natural gas projects, also in Ontario, and a 20-MW green hydrogen facility in Quebec.
And three offshore wind generation projects are now under construction in France, expected to deliver a total of 1.425 GW of capacity in the 2022-2024 timeframe. Enbridge has interests ranging from 17.9-25.5% in the three projects.