Enbridge Holds 2026 Guidance, Backlog Swells to CAD 38 Billion

Enbridge reported third-quarter adjusted EBITDA up CAD 167 million from a year earlier and reaffirmed its 2026 financial guidance, telling investors it expects to land at the midpoint of the range. The claim is calm on its face. What sits beneath it is a more complicated balance sheet, a leadership change, and a backlog whose funding path the company sketched only in outline.

Chief Financial Officer Pat Murray attributed the earnings growth to gas transmission, gas distribution and renewable power, which together more than offset weaker liquids pipelines results. The gains were specific: favorable contracting and rate case settlements in U.S. gas transmission; higher rates in Utah and North Carolina plus customer growth in Ontario; and the first phase of the Sequoia solar project entering service at the end of 2025.

What dragged on liquids?

The liquids decline had two named causes. Tolls on Line 9 deliveries fell, and throughput on Flanagan South dropped, which Murray tied to high refining utilization in the U.S. Midwest and market pricing dynamics. Distributable cash flow still rose year over year, helped by lower maintenance capital spending, though higher financing costs from additional debt took a bite. Murray also flagged lower liquid market access contributions and higher U.S. interest rates as headwinds. Every tailwind he cited carried a caveat.

What did the company buy, and how did it pay?

The quarter reshaped Enbridge's asset map through three deals and one equity raise:

• Tallgrass crude business: acquisition of the crude transportation arm, including the Pony Express Pipeline and Powder River Gateway system.
• Salt Creek Midstream: crude gathering assets in the Delaware Basin.
• Laramie Energy: gas assets supporting Enbridge Gas Utah, expected to close after regulatory approval later in November.
• Funding: a CAD 3 billion common equity offering to help finance the purchases.

Colin Gruending, president of liquids pipelines, said Enbridge expects the Tallgrass assets to stay in light-oil service for the foreseeable future and would be selective on further Permian Basin opportunities. "Selective" is doing considerable work in that sentence; the company named no targets.

Outgoing CEO Greg Ebel said the Laramie deal would provide cost-of-service gas supply and a utility return without commodity exposure. That structure suits a regulated utility, but it also caps the upside if gas prices fall.

How large is the backlog — and the debt?

Ebel put the secured capital backlog at approximately CAD 38 billion. Sanctioned projects include a CAD 200 million Long Lake Expansion supporting CNOOC's oil sands operations, with service expected in 2028, and a completed CAD 2.7 billion Westcoast partnership with KKR and Apollo that executives said gives flexibility to fund organic growth. Flexibility, notably, is not the same as funding.

Murray said debt-to-EBITDA stood at 5.1 times at quarter-end, driven by foreign-exchange movements. On an exchange-rate-adjusted basis, he said, leverage would have remained within the target range. The company did not state when reported leverage would return to that range.

Which projects moved forward?

Enbridge placed the Aspen Point gas transmission project in British Columbia into service ahead of schedule and under budget. Tennessee Ridgeline entered service on Nov. 1, on time despite construction challenges, Ebel said. Matthew Akman, president of gas transmission, said negotiations on a new Westcoast toll settlement were progressing before the existing settlement expires at year-end; Enbridge seeks higher achieved returns while keeping tolls competitive.

Commercial discussions for Project Beacon, a proposed Algonquin gas system expansion, are advancing after a successful open season, with commercialization targeted very early in the new year. In liquids, an open season for added Flanagan South capacity has closed, while Southern Access Extension remains open until later this year; Gruending said both could reach capital investment decisions by the next quarterly call. The company separated those downstream expansions from a proposed Mainline expansion after Canadian policy uncertainty made customer alignment difficult — a reminder that not every project survives politics.

Who leads next, and what changes?

The call was Ebel's last before his retirement at year-end. Michele Harradence, currently president of gas distribution and storage, becomes CEO on Jan. 1. Asked about priorities, she stressed continuity: safety, reliability, cost discipline and capital efficiency, and she cited 31 consecutive years of dividend increases.

"We're talking about taking a great company and making it even better here," Harradence said.

Ebel added that demand from power generation, industrial activity and exports presents opportunities across the business, and said his earlier forecast of 1 million barrels per day of Western Canadian supply growth by 2035 was probably too low. He offered no revised figure. The promise of upside without a number attached deserves the skepticism it invites. Enbridge delivered growth, raised equity, and kept guidance; the open questions are leverage, tolls, and how a new CEO funds CAD 38 billion.