Enbridge Inc. (TSX: ENB) has pushed back plans for a major pipeline to ship Canadian crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast in favor of an interim proposal to move it by tanker from existing lines to the East Coast.<P>

Enbridge has also been planning a project with Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) named Texas Access, which would involve building a 400,000 barrel a day pipeline to refineries in the Houston area from Patoka in southern Illinois. Enbridge said that the shift is partly in response to a newly tempered outlook for production from Canadian oil sands projects, which have been buffeted by regulatory delays and rising costs.<P>

The company, which runs the main artery from Canadian crude shipments to the U.S. Midwest, said it plans to move 230,000 barrels a day to Montreal from Sarnia, Ontario, then reverse the direction of the flow of an existing pipeline to transport the crude on to Portland, Maine. The $343 million project, called Trailbreaker, could be in service around mid-2010.

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