Canada's ambition to become an energy superpower is gaining momentum as major players in the industry unveil significant expansion plans. On Friday, Enbridge, the country's largest pipeline operator, announced its intention to increase the capacity of its Mainline network by up to 400,000 barrels per day by the end of the decade. This expansion will occur in two phases, with the second phase seeing an increase in proposed capacity. On the same day, Canadian Natural Resources, the largest petroleum producer in Canada, reported record production of 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day during the third quarter. The company also highlighted its potential for future growth, estimating an increase of 745,000 boe per day. While these figures do not indicate immediate approval for such increases, they underscore the industry's capacity to significantly boost production in the coming years, contingent on government policies, market conditions, and infrastructure availability. Mark Oberstoetter, head of North American upstream research at Wood Mackenzie, noted a shift in industry sentiment. "I’d say this is a bit of a tone change, in that they’re outlining a much more organic growth-led future," he said. Alberta's government aims to raise oil output to eight million barrels per day by 2035, a target that seems ambitious given that total crude production reached 4.2 million bpd in September. However, with more projects and pipeline capacity, stronger growth could be achievable. Premier Danielle Smith emphasized the need for Alberta to capture a larger share of the growing energy market, stating, "There has been a sea change in the conversation about oil and gas development." Enbridge is working to optimize its 13,800-kilometer Mainline pipeline network, which transported an average of 3.1 million barrels per day from July to September. Earlier this year, the company proposed a $1.5 billion expansion plan to increase capacity by 150,000 bpd by 2027, with a potential second phase to add a similar amount. Enbridge expects to finalize negotiations with customers soon and plans to announce the project’s sanctioning this quarter, aiming for service by 2027. The second phase, which would add 250,000 bpd of capacity by 2028, is designed to support Western Canadian producers. CEO Greg Ebel stated that the company will announce an open season to gauge shipper interest in early 2024. He remarked, "Relative to potential greenfield projects that would require significant energy policy change, these brownfield opportunities offer the quickest and most cost-effective way of adding close to 500,000 barrels a day of capacity to satisfy the near-term production increases forecasted out of the basin." Western Canadian producers have faced pipeline bottlenecks for the past 15 years, leading to significant price differentials between U.S. crude and Western Canadian Select (WCS) heavy oil. The recent expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline has alleviated some of these issues, but analysts warn that without further expansions, the transportation system may reach capacity again later this decade. Trans Mountain Corp. is also exploring its own capacity optimization plans. The Alberta government is advocating for a new pipeline to the British Columbia coast, capable of transporting one million barrels per day, to be included on the federal government’s major projects list. Colin Gruending, Enbridge’s president of liquids pipelines, cited estimates of 500,000 to 600,000 bpd of supply growth from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin by the decade's end. He stated, "I don’t know that it’s an acceleration here, per se. I think it’s been ‘game on’ here for a while." Wood Mackenzie projects that oilsands production in Canada will grow by about 100,000 bpd annually over the next two years, reaching approximately 3.5 million bpd by 2027. The optimization plans for the Mainline and Trans Mountain are expected to provide additional capacity and flexibility for increased supplies. Meanwhile, Canadian Natural Resources reported a 19 percent increase in average production during the third quarter compared to the previous year. The company anticipates an average production of 1.62 million boe per day by 2026, with potential for further growth. President Scott Stauth outlined plans to increase conventional production by 295,000 boe per day, thermal oilsands output by 210,000 bpd, and oilsands mining and upgrading by 240,000 bpd. Other operators, such as Suncor Energy and Cenovus Energy, are also reporting record production levels. Suncor produced 870,000 barrels per day in the third quarter, while Cenovus achieved an average of 833,000 boe per day. Oberstoetter noted that growth ambitions will vary among companies, influenced by oil prices, market demand, and transportation capacity. He concluded, "It does show the sentiment in Canada is much more positive, that the midstream, upstream, and the governments are all trying to paint a vision of potential growth."