Enbridge rekindles oil sands pipeline plan

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) has rekindled plans for a C$4 billion ($3.96 billion) pipeline to move oil sands-derived crude to Canada's West Coast so it can be shipped to Asia amid strong demand from producers and refiners, Enbridge's chief executive said on Thursday.

Enbridge, which put the Gateway project on the backburner in 2006, has attracted enough of its customers to fund the remaining costs to get the project to the regulatory approval stage, CEO Pat Daniel said.

"The pull from the other end of Gateway initially was primarily from the Chinese, but in this initiative the Chinese are not participants, and the pull ranges from Japan down to Singapore -- so much broader Southeast Asian interest," Daniel told investors at a conference in Whistler, British Columbia.

($1=$1.01 Canadian) (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; Editing by Peter Galloway)