Enbridge Inc

Colin Grunding, Liquids Pipelines, Cynthia Hansen, Gas Transmission and Midstream, Michelle Herodens, Gas Distribution and Storage, and Matthew Ackman, Renewable Power. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session for the investment community. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star followed by the number one. Please note this conference call is being recorded. As per usual, the call is being webcast and I encourage those listening on the phone to follow along with the supporting slides. We'll try to keep the call to roughly one hour and answer as many questions as possible. We will be limiting questions to one plus a single follow-up if necessary. We'll prioritize questions from the investment community. So if you are a member of the media, please direct your inquiries to our communications team who would be happy to assist you. As always, our investor relations team will be available following the call for any follow-up questions. On slide two, where I will remind you that we will be referring to forward-looking information in today's presentation and Q&A. By its nature, this information contains forecast assumptions and expectations about future outcomes, which are subject to the risks and uncertainties outlined here and discussed more fully in our public disclosure filings. We'll also be referring to non-GAP measures summarized below. And with that, I'll turn it over to Greg Ebel.

Well, thanks very much, Rebecca, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us as we look back on record fourth quarter and full year earnings. We're gonna start today by recapping the many milestones we achieved in 2024. Then I'd like to speak to Enbridge's performance through all market cycles and the benefits of our low-risk business model. From there, I'll showcase how we are positioned to meet the increasing power generation and industrial needs of our customers in North America. We will then jump into updates for each of our business units. Pat will walk everyone through the quarter's financial highlights and capital allocation priorities. And lastly, I'll close the presentation with a final note on our value proposition before we open the calls for your questions. We delivered record EBITDA and DCF per share in 2024, with new assets and continued customer demand contributing to a 13% increase in EBITDA over 2023. In December, we increased our dividend for the 30th consecutive year, extending our status as one of the only dividend and service to crafts in our sector. And while I'm pleased that Enbridge delivered a 37% total shareholder return to investors in 2024, I'm even more pleased that our business model will continue to generate strong returns for our shareholders as we advance our strategic priorities. On the growth front, we closed the acquisition of three premier U.S. natural gas utilities, creating the largest gas utility franchise in North America. We also announced three highly strategic tuck-in acquisitions of Permian and Gulf Coast assets, building on our integrated oil footprint and establishing a meaningful natural gas presence in the region. Across the business, we added over $8 billion of organic projects to our backlog, diversified across all four of our franchises. That backlog now includes approximately $3 billion of annual utility investment, earning strong returns under quick cycle capital riders and regulated return frameworks. Prudent capital recycling remains an important part of our business model, allowing us to opportunistically surface value for shareholders. And in April, we closed the sale of our interest in Alliance and OXABLE and subsequently announced the sale of our interest in the East to West Chi Line for combined proceeds of approximately $3.2 billion. Our long-held leverage target of four and a half to five times continues to be the sweet spot for Enbridge. And we expect full year contributions from our recently acquired and in-service assets to benefit this metric through 2025. We'll continue to equity self-fund up to $8 to $9 billion of growth projects annually, staying within our debt to EBITDA ratio while supporting future growth for Enbridge and driving returns for shareholders. Now let's spend a minute reviewing our low risk business model that allows us to perform so consistently. 2024 marks Enbridge's 19th consecutive year of achieving guidance, underscoring the stability of our business despite the myriad of macroeconomic challenges we've seen these past two decades. And looking ahead with the uncertainty around North American trade relations, I wanna remind everyone how each franchise has a commercial framework that will ensure reliable, low risk cash flows. In liquids, the main line is supported by an ROE performance collar and a progressive toll ratchet on line three surcharge,

providing

two forms of volume protection. And the rest of our liquid systems are predominantly underpinned by long-term take or pay contracts. In our gas transmission business, our pipelines operate under a mix of cost of service frameworks and negotiated take or pay rates, delivering over 24 BCF per day of natural gas to customers. Our utility business is fully regulated with flow through cost structures, inclusive of the cost of natural gas supply. And in renewables, our projects are backed by long-term power purchase agreements with high quality customers and governance. Our commitment to discipline gives us confidence that we can extend our track record of meeting financial guidance, steadily growing our dividend, and continuing to create value for our investors. Now let's spend a minute talking about how we're positioned to meet increasing natural gas infrastructure demand and serve our customers. Enbridge is the only major midstream company with a portfolio that offers long haul gas transmission, the reliability of utility infrastructure and the emissions benefits of renewable power. This unique combination allows us to provide diverse and comprehensive energy solutions for electric power that not only meet the affordability and reliability needs of customers, but also support their long-term sustainability goals as well. In 2024, we added over $5 billion of gas and renewable projects. Those include pipeline projects for more than two gigawatts of new natural gas generation in Tennessee and Carolina. A new Permian gas egress pipeline, which directly supports US Gulf Coast LNG to sets of offshore pipelines in the Gulf and the sanctioning of approximately 1.2 gigawatts of solar in Ohio and Texas. We're pleased with what we've delivered so far and we expect we'll be able to continue sanctioning attractive projects across each of our franchises. Now I'll jump into the business updates starting with liquids. 2024 was a milestone year for LP with record annual volumes on Grey Oak, Ingleside and Flanagan South. We fully expect that under all Canada-US trade relation outcomes, Canadian oil will continue to flow south. And our mainline is the vital conduit, supplying downstream demand centers across the continent and ensuring energy security for millions of North American consumers and workers. As we expected, the mainline experienced strong volumes all year, averaging throughput of 3.1 million barrels per day, even with TMX entering service. In addition, the mainline has been back in apportionment since November, reflecting continued strong demand for our system. And that demand alongside our operational excellence has this earning near the upper end of our ROE collar, earlier than expected. As the basin grows, we continue to advance conversations with customers to develop additional WCSB egress for late 2026, early 27 and later in the decade. Additionally, we also signed a letter of intent with the government of Alberta to accelerate future expansion opportunities across our system and support their growth ambitions. And in order to bring more condensate to Canada, we're proceeding with a very capital-efficient, customer-backed expansion of Southern Lights Pipeline. Earlier this year, we announced 120,000 barrel per day expansion of the Grey Oak Pipeline to support growing demand from shippers seeking delivery to Corpus Christi, where Ingleside facility is located. We're expanding our storage offering at Ingleside to support those additional volumes on Grey Oak. And we also acquired plumbed in two nearby docks, which dramatically increase Ingleside's VLCC loading windows. All told, our liquids franchise is positioned to grow and provide industry leading service to customers across the continent. Our gas transmission business experienced another year of high utilization in 2024. And that's continuing into 25. And once again, we are 100% recontracted on our gas pipes this year. In fact, we've already seen a few new throughput records on our systems over the last few weeks. Our total U.S. transmission system recorded its two highest delivery days ever in January, supported by Alzheimer highs on Maritimes in Northeast U.S. as well as a couple of top 10 days on Texas Eastern and Algonquin. Two of our storage facilities, Egan Hub and Moss Bluff recorded some of their highest ever daily withdrawals in January as well. During 2024, we sanctioned approximately $4 billion in new capital projects, predominantly focused around the U.S. Gulf Coast infrastructure, extending our growth backlog through the decade. The U.S. federal government has now announced reversal of the LNG pause on non-FTA facilities. And that's bolstered our confidence in other LNG expansion opportunities. And in the fourth quarter, we placed the Venice Extension Project into service. And it's now supplying natural gas to the Plaquemines LNG terminal in Louisiana. We also completed a 6.5 BCF expansion of Trace Palacios gas storage facility in Texas, enhancing our competitive service offering for Gulf Coast customers along our Texas Eastern system. In the Permian, we purchased a 19% interest in the Whistler Joint Venture, partnering with Whitewater Midstream and MPLX in establishing an integrated and growing natural gas footprint in the area. Alongside these partners, we sanctioned the Blackcomb Pipeline, which is expected to enter service in 2026 and provide up to 2.5 BCF per day of natural gas egress out of the Permian Basin. And then third quarter, we announced our acquisition of a 15% stake in the DBR system, a key conduit for the Whistler pipeline. These investments will drive growth opportunities through the decade. On the regulatory front, we recently received approval from the Canadian Energy Regulator for our $1.2 billion Aspen Point T-North expansion, ensuring capacity to serve growing LNG demand on our BC pipe system. And in the US, we reached and filed a negotiated settlement with customers on Texas Eastern, as well as reaching settlements in principle on both Algonquin gas transmission and Maritimes US. New rates on Texas Eastern have been in effect since October 1, 2024, and we expect FERC approval of the AGT and Maritimes and Northeast settlements later this year. Now let's turn to GDS. The utility franchise has approximately doubled in size this year, having brought Enbridge Gas, Ohio, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and North Carolina in-house. The gas distribution and storage business is now delivering over 9 BCF per day of gas to over 7 million customers. Our team is working every day to deliver reliable and affordable natural gas to these customers. And we continue to invest in key infrastructure across North America to meet growing customer demand. To that point, both Enbridge Gas of North Carolina and Ohio both hit new daily all-time throughput records last month. Enbridge Gas, Utah, moved its fourth highest daily gas throughput in history. And Enbridge Gas, Ontario delivered a single-day record from the most gas storage withdrawals out of the Don Hub. Each of our four utilities are critically important to their markets, and we expect to invest about $3 billion annually across their utility franchise, earning strong returns under quick cycle capital frameworks. For example, here are a few of our larger utility projects underway. At our Ontario utility, we anticipate sanctioning the St. Laurent Pipeline Project in the coming months, a $200 million multi-phase development enhancing our existing footprint in Ottawa. North Carolina has two exciting projects to highlight this quarter. The T15 project will serve Duke Energy's new Roxboro Natural Gas Power Generation Plan, and Moriah establishes an LNG gasification facility in Person County to support system reliability. Both are great examples of essential in-footprint developments ensuring reliable and growing service offerings for customers. We are making strong progress integrating all the new assets into the Enbridge family. Now let's jump into renewables before passing it off the pack. Throughout 2024, we advanced our renewables platform under our utility-like business model. We're pursuing growing projects with high quality blue chip customers that are in strong risk adjusted investment returns. In 2024, we sanctioned approximately 1.2 net gigawatts of new quick silo solar projects, and almost 20% of that capacity is already operating. I'm excited to announce that the entire Fox squirrel facility in Ohio is now in service, generating 577 megawatts of renewable power under long-term contracts with Amazon. Earlier this year, we sanctioned the Orange Grove Solar Project, which will generate 130 megawatts of power under long-term agreements with AT&T and support the growing electric generation needs of the air cod market. We also sanctioned the Sequoia Solar Project in Texas, which is supported by power purchase agreements with customers, including AT&T and Toyota. In Europe, we continue to advance our offshore portfolio, having placed FECOM and Provence Grand Lodge into service in 2024. Both those facilities are supported by long-term PPAs with EDF. Manufacturing is largely completed for Calvados, and the drilling campaign is underway. We now expect the project to enter service in 2027, which is later than our original schedule. With that, I'll pass it off to Pat to review our financial performance.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Greg. This has been a busy year for us, and I'm pleased to report record fourth quarter and full year EBITDA and DCF per share. For the quarter, EBITDA increased considerably to over 5.1 billion, reflecting an over $1 billion increase from the same period last year. Our DCF per share for the quarter rose to $1.41, an approximately 10% increase over last year, and our adjusted earnings per share rose to 75 cents per share, reflecting a 17% increase over the same timeframe. Liquids EBITDA benefited from toll escalators on the main line, strong throughput on our Gulf Coast mid-continent assets and lower power costs. That was partially offset by lower ex-Gretna volumes. Although 2024 was stronger than we anticipated, 23 had realized a record fourth quarter. Gas transmission was up significantly from 2023, owing to contributions from the Whistler JV, Tomorrow R&G, Aiken Creek, as well as TETCO rate settlement taking effect on October 1st. And as a reminder, we achieved that GTM growth despite the sale of our interest in the Alliance and OXABLE partnerships in the second quarter of 2024. For the first time, our gas distribution business reflects a full quarter of EBITDA from all three US LDCs acquired in 2024. This drives the $500 million or so of year over year increase within the segment. In renewable power, we recognized another tranche of investment tax credits relating to the Fox squirrel phase two, alongside a full quarter of contributions from our higher interest in Hohe See and Albatross assets acquired in Q4, 2023. Below the line, higher average rate and death balances from the closure of the various US utilities resulted in higher financing costs in the fourth quarter compared to last year. Reflecting on full year results, 2024 EBITDA exceeded our recast guidance range, supported by strong utilization and demand across all franchises, as well as a weakening CAD to US foreign exchange rate. For DCF, we finished the year just below our guidance midpoint, despite pre-funding the US gas utilities, a great outcome and a testament to the growth within our business. As Greg mentioned earlier, this marks our 19th consecutive year achieving or exceeding our financial guidance. And while it's early, we're currently on pace to extend that track record in 25. On that note, I'm pleased to reaffirm the 25 guidance we provided in December. We continue to expect adjusted EBITDA between $19.4 billion and $20 billion, and DCF per share of 550 to 590 per share. Full year LDC contributions, new assets in service, and continued cost saving initiatives are expected to drive the majority of the growth in 2025. Although early, so far, the mainland has been in portionment all year, we've experienced colder weather in Ontario, and the current strength of the US dollar could be tailwinds if experienced for the entire year. These can be partially offset by a slower than expected decline in US interest rates. I'm also reaffirming our midterm outlook and look forward to discussing this with the investment community in a few weeks at our upcoming investor day. Now I'll close my remarks with a refresher on our long-held commitment to capital discipline before passing it back to Greg. Our three pillar approach to capital allocation is unchanged in 2025. The balance sheet will remain strictly in focus with our financial guardrails governing all investment decisions. We expect full year contributions from the US gas utilities that closed in 2024 to benefit our leverage metric in 2025. A thoughtful capital recycling program has been a cornerstone of our business for decades, and we successfully recycled over $15 billion of assets since 2014, including our recently announced East West Tie Line sale. Sustainably returning capital via low risk dividend is a hallmark of our investment offering. We're committed to growing the dividend and supporting our diversified and high quality cash flow profile. Lastly, on growth, you can expect us to prioritize brownfield investment at low multiples when sanctioning new projects to supplement our backlog. Our capital backlog now sits at 26 billion, with 5 billion of assets placed into service in 2024, and 8 billion of newly sanctioned projects added through 2029. As always, a special thank you to all the team members for delivering on another exceptional year. With that, I'll pass it back to Greg to finish the presentation.

Well, thanks very much, Pat. And again, 2024 caps off a record year of financial and operational performance here at Enbridge. Our steadily growing dividend supported by a utility-like cash flow profile remains a cornerstone of our investment offering, as demonstrated by 30 years of consecutive dividend increases. The complementary nature of our overlapping businesses will continue to drive growth, enable optimization, and enhance our opportunities set through the decade. Enbridge is a first choice investment opportunity, offering an attractive yield alongside visible long-term growth that is largely insulated from economic gyrations. Before we close, I'll remind everyone to please join us on March 4th for our annual Investor Day in New York. The team's excited to see you and share the opportunities being realized across the organization and driving our future growth. With that, I'd like to thank you all for listening. And operator, please open the lines for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one in your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your questions, simply press star one again. Your first question comes from a line of Jeremy Tenet from JP Morgan. Your line is open. Hi, good

morning.

Morning, Jeremy.

Also wanted to send the team a happy Valentine's Day as well. Just curious, I guess, with WCSB production and growth opportunities there and initiatives, I guess, out of Alberta, if you could talk a bit more on how you see that, I guess, unfolding over what type of timeframe and how large could this actually scale over time in your view?

Yeah, well, maybe I'll just start, but I'll turn it over to Colin very quickly here, but you're on it. And we'll send the love back to you too on Valentine's Day. But I will say you're really seeing great opportunities in production growth. And we're looking at a lot of quick hit, permit life, low multiple brownfield type activities on the liquids front to serve the markets on both sides of the border. So you're gonna hear more about that during investor day, but Colin, do you wanna speak to a little bit what we've been doing the last month and so?

Yeah, I mean, it's only been, hey, morning, Jeremy. It's only been about a month since that announcement of even working feverish in that even before then. I would view that announcement as an endorsement of our role and our playbook. We'll look to tell you a whole bunch more in a couple of weeks, November's Day, but even maybe zoom out a bit further, you know, FID-ing a number of projects in the calendar year. Fundamentally, I think production is surprising to the upside, not huge capital projects by our customers, but as you've been reading, lots of debottle macking and optimizations, potentially re-rating that kit. And then on demand side, strong as well. So it's shaping up well and there's infrastructure opportunities from tip to stern, regionally, mainline, market access and export. We'll tell you more. Yeah,

and you know, Jeremy, like my opening comments I mentioned, it's just one aspect that gives us really great confidence about continuing our growth right through the decade and equally you would have seen apportionment the last few months. So not only are the pipes being used, but the requirements for more are definitely there. So look forward to talk about that further in a couple of weeks.

Got it, we will wait for more details then. And at the risk of a question that might be more fully answered at analyst day as well, just wondering with the new regime in DC in different policies towards energy and energy infrastructure development in general, wondering if you could share any thoughts and what that means for Enbridge, particularly around line five or otherwise.

Yeah, sure. Well, I think the first and foremost thing and you've heard us say this and others as well, but we've got the portfolio that backs it up. It's an all of the above energy solution that's gonna be needed. So if you've got liquids, if you've got natural gas assets and you've got power assets, it's on. If you got export assets, it's on. So we've got all those pieces. So I think that's positive. I think a more rational approach to sustainability issues, taxation, permitting reform, I expect all those are gonna be pretty critical to us. And we're already seeing it again, just with requests for, and you probably see it on our deck, requests for things like gas generation, as Colin just mentioned on the oil side, I think that's gonna be extremely positive. Sure, let's get into it. We've got tariff concerns out there, but there's such a hard wiring of the energy system in North America. We just don't see that as a material impact. And I think given what we're seeing from customers, that's actually bearing out in reality and we're gonna see it happen on the investment side as well.

Great, that's helpful. See you guys in a few weeks.

Thanks, Jeremy.

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Cattelier from CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, everyone. I wanna continue on the liquid side here. I wondered if you could comment on the discourse that has been popping up about the need to diversify our markets for energy. In the event that Canada develops the political will, can you indicate your appetite and under what circumstances you'd invest in a long haul liquids pipeline in Canada, such as Northern Gateway or even a line going east?

Sure, thanks, Rob. Look, that's a really thoughtful question and we've obviously given a lot of thought to that. I will start by saying that we're really focused intently more on broader themes, macro trends like production, demand, growth, earnings, returns on capital than -to-day political gyrations. But that said, we're not blind to the trade discussions and disputes, but real sustainable trends aren't made in a day or a month, takes a long time. So again, that's why we're focused on some of the stuff we were just talking about in terms of relatively low capital, short plays. And that's gonna be the reality for a long time to come, that gas, oil, energy is gonna move north and south more than it does east and west. But specifically say to Northern Gateway, you know, I'm really pleased to see Canadian policymakers focused on that issue and realizing the true benefits of diverse markets. We've pitched that for a long time and I think our views on LNG and liquids exports are well known. You know, we've said for years that we've been missing the boat, pun intended, on that for a long time. We worked really hard on Northern Gateway first time around, right, in service, hopefully for Canadians. We had permits, we had regulatory approvals, indigenous participation, strong customer support. Unfortunately, you know, that project was cut short by the federal government, which really cost us hundreds of millions of dollars and our investors that, right? So that's a powerful learning. So for us to be willing to seriously consider reinvesting at a project like that, whether it's east or west or just west, we need to see real change on numerous fronts. Let me tell you about that. One, things like what Premier Smith in Alberta has been doing in terms of making positive moves to commit volumes on some of these major pipes and seeking internal solutions to energy mobility in Canada and North America. We would need to see real legislative change at the federal and provincial government level that specifically identifies major infrastructure projects like Northern Gateway as being in the national interest and therefore legally required. Like the permitting changes. And for example, they're eliminating C-69, C-59. All that would be a positive indicator for a change in the trend towards energy infrastructure. Another example, you know, you got to see support for energy production as opposed to reducing it, which you see through emission caps and carbon tax. More indigenous consultation, engagement and direct participation via loan guarantees that frankly that loan guarantee program that exists now would be way too small for meaningful projects on that front. And we believe you'd likely need capex costs and reasonable return trackers to ensure you could actually attract the kind of capital we're talking about to such projects. So Robert, it's a lot of coordinated federal and pan-provincial legislative and regulatory action would be required before we think investors, management teams or customers would be able to green light such projects. Lots of talk from governments and policy makers, which is great, they're saying the right things, but it's gonna take real actions, laws, regulation to attract the capital in our view.

That's a great answer and I can only hope that the politicians understand the need for a better risk transfer mechanism to undertake these massive projects given the history. Amen. So just another quick one here on the renewables. I'm just curious if you're seeing anything coming out of the Trump administration that maybe you just update your outlook for what you expect on onshore renewables under the new administration and what it could mean for reducing the gap between your DCF per share and the other per share metrics.

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