Maritimes & Northeast has applied with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build its Phase IV expansion project, designed to enhance gas deliveries to the U.S. northeast.

The U.S. $250 million project will allow Maritimes to nearly double the capacity of its existing 650-mi pipeline, which runs from offshore Goldboro, Nova Scotia, to Dracut, Mass.

Work calls for four new compressor stations in maine, with each station adding some 26,800 hp of compression. The new stations are proposed for the municipalities of Eliot, Gorham, Brewer and Searsmont.

Further, the project involves some 31 mi of looping in Maine's Washington County. A 2004 completion is planned.

Phase IV complements the planned 25-mi, 30-in. extension of the Maritimes pipeline from Methuen, Mass., to Beverly, Mass. this Phase III extension of the Maritimes project will connect the Maritimes mainline with the Algonquin gas transmission system through Algonquin's proposed 29-mi, 16- and 24-in. HubLine project. The Maritimes Phase III and Algonquin HubLine projects recently received final FERC approval.