Enbridge Inc.

says it is advancing “upsized” plans to increase capacity on Canada’s largest oil pipeline, announcing Friday that it is considering a larger expansion for its pipeline that carries Alberta oil to the U.S. Midwest.

The Calgary-based midstream giant said its Mainline

pipeline

was running at full capacity in the third quarter and confirmed Friday that it is accelerating plans to increase capacity further.

The company had previously said it was nearing investment decisions to expand the Mainline in two phases

—

a 150,000-barrel-a-day increase by 2027 and another 150,000 barrels per day by 2028.

On the latest earnings call, Enbridge executive vice-president Colin Gruending used a baseball analogy to confirm the second phase will be larger.

“(Phase one) is at the plate now…

(phase two) is in the batter’s box and it’s got a bigger bat than we thought we had before. We’ve upsized that from 150 to 250 thousand barrels per day,”

Gruending said.

Strong demand for Canadian oil in the United States and the relative strength of Canadian producers

— particularly those in the oilsands — who face far less production decline than their U.S. shale rivals, is driving demand for increased export capacity out of Western Canada, Enbridge chief executive Greg Ebel said Friday. 

The midstream giant beat analyst estimates for its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization

—

a measure of underlying operating profit

—

 with $4.3 billion in the third quarter, up slightly from $4.2 billion a year ago thanks to high pipeline utilization.

Enbridge also sanctioned $3 billion in new projects in the third quarter, including $500 million for its Southern Illinois Connector

— a new crude pipeline tie-in that is expected to add

100,000 barrels per day in additional export capacity for Canadian crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The company continues to face questions about its appetite to pursue a new long-haul pipeline in light of Prime Minister

Mark Carney

‘s effort to fast-track major

infrastructure projects

deemed in the national interest.

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But both Ebel and Gruending downplayed the idea during Friday’s earnings call, suggesting Enbridge’s focus was on “brownfield opportunities” and expanding or de-bottlenecking existing pipelines.

Still, Gruending hinted that Enbridge was exploring the possibility of a third or fourth phase to the Mainline expansion project — particularly if the political will was there.

“Our engineers are looking at that as well because there is a scenario here where Canada and the U.S. do a bigger trade deal and energy is part of it, and the imperative may accelerate further,” he said.

mpotkins@postmedia.com