Feb 10 (Reuters) - Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) on Friday posted a quarterly loss from a year-ago profit as it took a C$2.5 billion ($1.86 billion) hit from higher cost of capital related to its gas transmission reporting unit.
U.S. refinery outages, a global glut of high-sulphur fuel oil and the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases that flooded the market with heavy sour barrels weakened demand for Western Canada Select crude.
Enbridge, a leading transporter of crude oil and natural gas in North America, delivered 3.1 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) on its Mainline system, slightly higher than the 3 million bpd delivered a year ago.
The Calgary-based firm posted a loss of C$1.07 billion, or 53 Canadian cents, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of C$1.84 billion, or 91 Canadian cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 63 Canadian cents per share, missing analysts' average expectation of 73 Canadian cents, according to Refinitiv data.
($1 = 1.3447 Canadian dollars)
