Déjà Vu All Over Again -- The Enbridge Expansion Announcement; Seaway Pipeline Reversal Back On Line Later This Week

This is interesting.

Zacks is posting a story today that was noted last week -- but it's an important story: deserves repeating, especially in light of what's going on (or not going on) with Keystone XL.

The parent company of Enbridge Energy Partners LP  – Enbridge Inc. – announced its plans to spend up to $400 million to expand its Canadian mainline system between Hardisty, Alberta, and the U.S. border.

The pipeline is an extension of Enbridge’s pipeline construction plan at Edmonton and Hardisty, announced last November. The expansion will augment the capacity by 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) and involves increased pumping horsepower.

Okay, so that's one pipeline expansion.

But there's another one, also previously announced, and one that will go through North Dakota:
Enbridge Energy Partners also plans to expand the Lakehead System pipeline connecting North Dakota and Wisconsin. This extension will add 230,000 bpd to the capacity at an estimated cost of about $200 million.

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Zacks is also reporting that the Seaway Pipeline reversal is opening sometime this week. RBN Energy has provided some interesting commentary regarding WTI pricing following this reversal. Also, the WSJ is reporting the same narrowing of benchmarks with the anticipation of the Seaway Pipeline Reversal.

Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline Company LLC –– a 50/50 joint venture between the affiliates of Enterprise Products Partners L.P and Enbridge Inc.  –– announced that the Seaway pipeline will commence operations at full rates towards the end of next week. The pipeline runs between Cushing and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Currently, operations on the Seaway pipeline remain suspended for the completion of the final work, which includes the completion of the remaining pump station connections. The capacity of the 500-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline is being raised to 400,000 barrels per day from about 150,000 barrels per day.

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By the way, for investors: Motley Fool spoke of EPD as recently as today:

For Enterprise to improve, it needs to keep its streak of 33 consecutive quarterly payout increases alive while continuing to work on getting its debt levels down. As long as energy production remains a priority for the economy, unitholders should keep enjoying nice payouts.