ENBRIDGE TO RESTART OILSANDS SHIPMENTS

Enbridge Inc. first-quarter profit rose as record volumes carried on its main pipeline system helped shield Canada’s largest pipeline company from the collapse in oil prices.

Net income in the first quarter was $1.21 billion, or $1.38 a share, compared with a loss of $383 million, or 46 cents, a year earlier, the Calgarybased company said Thursday.

“Our ability to generate predictable cash flow growth is a testament to the strength of our asset base and our low risk business model, which is built to withstand the current downturn in commodity markets,” said CEO Al Monaco in the statement.

Enbridge continues to expand its crude pipelines even as it looks for ways to reduce its dependence on oilsands growth as the prolonged price collapse casts doubt over the future of projects in Western Canada. The company is still attempting to win support for the Northern Gateway line to the Pacific Coast. Last week it requested a three-year extension of the period to start construction and increased the indigenous ownership stake.

Average deliveries on Enbridge’s mainline ex-Gretna and Lakehead systems together exceeded 5.2 million barrels a day in the first three months of the year, surpassing the record in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the statement.

Enbridge’s financial results beat expectations on “stronger than expected contributions” from its liquids pipeline business, Patrick Kenny, an analyst at National Bank Financial in Calgary, wrote in a note.

Wildfires that forced the shutdown of about 1 million barrels a day of oilsands production this month also caused Enbridge to close its Cheecham terminal and pipelines running into and out of it, as it evacuated workers. While the company reported limited damage to some of the terminal’s above-ground facilities, it said Thursday it expects that deliveries from its oilsands lines, which were cut by about 900,000 barrels a day, will increase as capacity is restored over the next few days. The speed of the restart depends on factors including re-establishing power supply.

Enbridge will seek to shift its focus after the current wave of projects draws to a close near the end of the decade, Guy Jarvis, who heads the company’s pipeline operations, said in February. Enbridge, which has $18 billion of projects with secured customers through 2019, is also looking at power generation and energy services as areas for growth.