Thanks to its growing list of acquisitions, Enbridge’s third-quarter profits more than doubled, jumping from CA$500 million (US$359 million) to CA$1.3 billion (US$0.93 billion) year-over-year.

Canada-based Enbridge’s portfolio includes gas and liquids pipelines, a renewable energy segment and, over the last year, a natural gas utilities sector in the U.S.

"Across the business, we saw strong utilization of our assets, which drove another solid quarter of financial results, positioning us to achieve full-year guidance for the 19th year in a row,” said Greg Ebel, Enbridge president and CEO, during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Nov. 1.

Enbridge is not the first in third-quarter 2024 to report earnings boosted by expansions. ONEOK also reported an earnings increase on Oct. 30 coming off a couple of deal closings this quarter.

RELATED

ONEOK’s Acquisitions Pay Off with Increased Earnings

For Enbridge, the company’s third-quarter performance was boosted by strength in its U.S. gas transmission operations, Jefferies Equity Research said in an analyst report, which placed Enbridge on a ‘hold’ rating.

The company strengthened its natural gas pipeline position in the Permian Basin with the acquisition of a 15% stake in the TBR gathering system. The network is a key feeder of the Whistler transport line, which delivers natural gas from West Texas to the Agua Dulce hub near Corpus Christi, Texas.

The transport delivers gas to the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center, where the company is currently expanding its storage and export operations.

The company has become the largest gas utility in North America with 7 million customers.

In the third quarter, Enbridge closed on the third and last of its gas utility purchases first announced in 2023. At the end of September, Dominion Energy North Carolina became Enbridge Gas North Carolina, making the Canadian company the largest owner of gas utilities in the U.S. Company executives are in the process of integration.

“What I have to say now after being able to really look under the hood of (the utilities), beyond what we did through the due diligence period, is these are every bit as good as we thought they were,” said Michele Harradence, Enbridge head of gas distribution and storage. “And that means that they're really well positioned for growth.”  

For the rest of 2024, the company re-affirmed its annual guidance and expects to finish the year with an EBITDA between CA$17.7 (US$12.7) billion and CA$18.3 billion (US$13.2 billion).

Like many in the midstream business, the company predicts rapid growth over the next few years as electricity demand increases to power artificial intelligence data centers.

“We're excited about the data center opportunities we're seeing there so far,” Ebel said. “We've recently contracted supply to serve 200 megawatts (MW) of power for data centers and are evaluating inquiries for another 600 megawatts.”

Enbridge is also growing its renewable energy sector. The company announced it was moving forward on Sequoia Solar, an 815-MW solar project located 150 miles west of Dallas, for an expected in-service date of 2025. The project is a partnership with AT&T and Toyota.

The company is also growing its Fox Squirrel Solar project, a 577 MW-site in Ohio with Amazon as a sole customer.

Enbridge told investors the company has CA$8 billion to CA$9 billion (US$5.7 billion to US$6.5 billion) in annual investment capacity and has CA$27 billion (US$19.4 billion) in its secured growth backlog.

Comments