The Lakehead System is the primary transporter of crude oil and liquid petroleum from Western Canada to the United States.

LAKEHEAD SYSTEM
The Lakehead System is a U.S. crude oil and liquid petroleum common carrier pipeline. Joined with the Enbridge mainline system in Canada, the Lakehead System comprises the longest liquid petroleum pipeline system in the world. Now in its 58th year of operation, the Lakehead System continues as the primary transporter of crude oil and liquid petroleum from western Canada to the United States, and serves all the major refining centers in the U.S. Great Lakes and upper Midwest regions as well as Ontario, Canada. Through a connection with Enbridge’s Spearhead Pipeline as well as current and planned interconnections with other systems, the Lakehead System offers capacity for increased access to the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast markets.

In 2007, total deliveries on the Partnership’s Lakehead System averaged 1.54 million barrels per day (bpd), which met approximately 71 percent of Minnesota refining capacity, 60 percent of the greater Chicago area and 67 percent of Ontario demand. Based on forecast growth of western Canadian crude oil as well as oil sands bitumen production, deliveries on the Lakehead System are expected to average 1.69 million bpd in 2008.

Overall, the Lakehead System in 2007 transported approximately 67 percent of the total western Canadian crude oil exports to the United States. While most of the petroleum transported in the Lakehead System is sourced from western Canada, some 5 percent of its receipts are from domestic production, including the increasing deliveries from our recently expanded North Dakota System.

Since 2006, Enbridge’s Spearhead Pipeline has provided up to 125,000 bpd of capacity for crude oil transportation from an interconnection with the Lakehead System in the Chicago area to the crude oil hub at Cushing. In 2007, Enbridge launched an expansion of the Spearhead Pipeline to expand the capacity of that pipeline to 190,000 bpd by early 2009.