Enbridge Affiliates to Increase Takeaway Capacity From The Bakken

This is a nice, short announcement from a couple of Enbridge affiliates ready to increase daily shipment out of the Bakken.

But for investors, this is even more interesting news: Enbridge will ration space on its mainline next month (November, 2010) because of high demand and capacity cuts following a pipeline break last month.

I wonder if the "high demand" is from the additional oil coming out of the Bakken, or if it's all oil sands oil? Probably the latter. I can't imagine the Bakken, as prolific as it is, making a sizable dent in the volume of Canadian oil sands oil. Wishful thinking. 

Enbridge's mainline pipeline system carries the bulk of Canada's crude oil exports to the United States.

Wanna bet this puts upward pressure on the price of oil? Just saying. 

This announcement comes at the same time as Schlumberger suggests that deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico controlled by the US is "dead in the water." Note: Schlumberger did not say this in so many words; it is my paraphrasing, my opinion of what was said, my interpretation of what was said, at the 3Q10 earnings conference call. It should not be taken out of context.

Updates

Update, October 28, 2010: I interpret this article to suggest that Shell hints that lifting of GofM moratorium hasn't changed reality.