(Adds comments, details on Mainline system volumes)
By Nia Williams
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc ENB.TO ,
Canada's largest pipeline company, reported a
higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday and said it will
defer C$5 billion ($3.62 billion) in spending from this year and
next until 2018 due to project delays.
Shares of Enbridge, whose customers have been hard hit by
the collapse of crude oil prices, fell 1.1 percent to C$42.92 on
the Toronto Stock Exchange as concerns about its funding plan
and growth strategy surfaced and the recent oil market rally
lost steam.
"Overall, we view the quarter as neutral for the stock
weighing off the good results and reiteration of 2016 guidance
against what we see as continued market concerns about execution
of the funding plan along with the deferral of growth," RBC
Capital Markets analyst Robert Kwan said in a note.
Calgary-based Enbridge's U.S. arm, Enbridge Energy Partners
LP EEP.N , said on Tuesday the Sandpiper and Line 3 replacement
pipeline projects were delayed to 2019 from 2017 to allow for
completion of environmental reviews and permitting in Minnesota.
The Sandpiper project is intended to supply crude oil from
North Dakota to refineries located in the U.S. Midwest and
eastern Canada. The Line 3 Replacement project begins in Alberta
and ends in Wisconsin.
Enbridge has a C$26 billion commercially secured capital
program through 2019, of which about C$8 billion has already
been funded and brought into service through the end of 2015.
Chief Executive Al Monaco said the company's priority would
be funding its secured capital program, but added that it would
continue to look for organic growth and strategic asset deals.
"Given a higher cost of capital today that we are seeing, we
will be lowering the microscope even further to make sure that
we are deploying the most optimal projects," Monaco said.
Enbridge's Mainline system, which moves the bulk of Canadian
crude exports to the United States, shipped an average of 2.2
million barrels per day in the fourth quarter, compared with 2.1
million a year earlier. It hit a record high of 2.6 million bpd
last month.
The company said it is in the process of securing approval
to replace up to 100,000 bpd per day of light crude shipped on
the system with heavy barrels, if light oil volumes decline as a
result of the global crude price slump.
Net income attributable to shareholders rose more than
fourfold to C$378 million, or 44 Canadian cents per share, in
the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Excluding items, the company reported a profit of 58
Canadian cents per share, above analysts' average estimate of 52
Canadian cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
($1 = 1.3816 Canadian dollars)