Enbridge sinks cash into pipeline upgrades

• Tweet

CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian pipeline company Enbridge announced plans to add 230,000 barrels per day to a Canadian oil system and 230,000 bpd to a U.S. pipeline network.

Enbridge Inc. said it was investing around $400,000 to expand the Canadian mainline system between the U.S. border and Hardisty, Alberta. That expansion would add 230,000 bpd of capacity to the system.

No new pipelines are included in the program, which requires regulatory approvals. Enbridge said the project should be in service by 2015.

The company's U.S. division, Enbridge Energy Partners, announced that it was investing around $200,000 to update the Lakehead oil pipeline system in the United States. That expansion would target the section of the pipeline system running from North Dakota to Wisconsin and is subject to regulatory approval. That upgrade includes expansions to pumping horsepower rather than new pipe.

A section of the Lakehead system in southern Michigan ruptured in 2010, leading to the costliest onshore incident of its kind in the United States.

The Lakehead expansion should go into service by 2015.

The systems carry a combined 2.5 million bpd.