Enbridge Pays $2.55B for Tallgrass Crude Business Including Pony Express Pipeline, Adding 460,000 bpd Rockies Corridor as Williston Rigs Surge to 16-Month High

Enbridge Inc. agreed on September 9, 2026 to pay US$2.55 billion for Tallgrass Energy's crude oil transportation business. The acquisition includes a 75% interest in the 1,050-mile Pony Express Pipeline, a 51% interest in the Powder River Gateway system, and 8.4 million barrels of crude storage across nine terminals. The deal arrived 14 days after Enbridge agreed to pay $600 million for Salt Creek Midstream's crude gathering assets in Wyoming, bringing the combined two-deal total to US$3.15 billion. Enbridge expects both transactions to close in late 2026 pending US antitrust approval.

Assets in the Tallgrass Package

Pony Express carries Rocky Mountain crude 1,050 miles from Wyoming to Cushing, Oklahoma, connecting Rockies production to approximately 500,000 barrels per day of US refining capacity. Enbridge acquires a 75% equity interest in that system, which has certified capacity of 460,000 barrels per day. Powder River Gateway consists of two pipelines with combined capacity of approximately 240,000 barrels per day that feed Wyoming production into Pony Express. The package also includes a 60.3% non-operating interest in the Deeprock Crude Terminal at Cushing and Stanchion Energy, Tallgrass's crude marketing subsidiary.

Salt Creek to Cushing: Enbridge Owns Every Rung

Salt Creek Midstream gathers crude at wellheads in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Powder River Gateway moves that gathered crude to the main Pony Express trunk line. Pony Express then carries it south 1,050 miles to Cushing. With the August 2026 Salt Creek acquisition, Enbridge now controls three consecutive links: gathering (100% of Salt Creek), the feeder (51% of Powder River Gateway), and the long-haul trunk (75% of Pony Express). Colin Gruending, Enbridge's executive vice president and president of Liquids Pipelines, said the acquisition "strengthens Enbridge's position as North America's leading crude oil transporter and expands its footprint into the U.S. Rockies region."

EBITDA Multiple and Tariff Math at $102 WTI

Enbridge paid 10 to 11 times forward enterprise value to EBITDA for the Tallgrass portfolio, according to BOE Report. At $2.55 billion and a 10.5x midpoint, the implied forward EBITDA across the full package is approximately $243 million per year. That figure covers Pony Express, Powder River Gateway, 8.4 million barrels of storage, and Stanchion Energy combined. The 10 to 11 times range is consistent with midstream M&A multiples for long-haul crude pipelines backed by take-or-pay contracts seen in 2025-2026. Enbridge added the deal to its $41 billion secured growth backlog and targets 4.5 to 5.0 times debt-to-EBITDA through the integration.

WTI crude settled at $102.59 per barrel on Friday's CME close, up 0.11% on the day, per TradingEconomics. Brent settled at $106.11 per barrel on the ICE, down 1.41%. At $102.59 WTI, every 10,000 barrels per day of incremental Pony Express utilization moves approximately $374 million per year of crude value to the Cushing benchmark, underlining the strategic weight of owning firm long-haul capacity at these price levels.

Williston Rig Surge Signals Growing Rockies Supply

Baker Hughes reported the Williston Basin reached 32 active rigs for the week ending September 11, up five from 27 the prior week and the highest since May 2025, per BOE Report and EnergyNow. Oil Authority's prior Baker Hughes coverage tracked the US total at 588, flat, with Williston below 30. Total US rigs rose three to 591 this week, the first increase in four weeks. Bakken formation output hit 1.21 million barrels per day in September 2026, per OilPriceAPI basin data. Pony Express was designed to serve Bakken crude moving south through Wyoming; greater Williston Basin activity adds forward demand for Cushing-bound crude takeaway capacity.

PXP2 Expansion and the CEO Transition

The Tallgrass transaction includes the Pony Express expansion project (PXP2), which would add 55,000 barrels per day of capacity at a planned capital cost of US$300 million. PXP2 is supported by take-or-pay contracts and targets a late 2027 in-service date. At $300 million for 55,000 incremental barrels per day, PXP2 costs approximately $5,455 per daily barrel of new throughput. Greg Ebel, Enbridge's outgoing CEO who announced his year-end retirement one day before the Tallgrass deal, called the acquisitions "the types of opportunities that do not come along very often, and even more rarely meet our disciplined evaluation criteria." Michele Harradence, named as Ebel's successor, will oversee regulatory clearance and integration.

Enbridge's Existing US Crude Footprint

Enbridge (ENB) already operates the Express-Platte system in the US, which serves as the primary existing connection for Alberta crude flows through the Cushing area and links with the Tallgrass assets. The Lakehead system, the US portion of Enbridge's Mainline, delivers Alberta oil to Great Lakes refineries and forms the core of Enbridge's existing US crude network. Acquiring Tallgrass extends that network into the Rockies corridor, a region Enbridge had not previously served as a majority pipeline owner. Tallgrass Energy LP is majority-owned by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, which is the counterparty seller. Enbridge launched a C$2.6 billion common share offering to partly fund both the Salt Creek and Tallgrass acquisitions, per BOE Report.