ST. STEPHEN, New Bruns-wick – Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline plans to preview its proposed 30-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline expansion during an open house Wednesday.

The company already transports natural gas from offshore Canada through Maine and on to Massachusetts. It wants to triple the capacity of its existing 850-mile system.

The proposed new line would begin from the planned Canaport liquefied natural gas facility in Saint John, travel north of Pennfield and St. George, then across the St. Croix River into Baileyville, Maine.

The open house will be from 2 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch, 72 Queen St. West. The public is invited.

The company is seeking public comment regarding its preliminary routing of the pipeline corridor. Environmental and socioeconomic studies throughout the proposed development are under way.

Once the company has gathered public comment and completed its own studies, it will apply for regulatory approval, likely later this year. Maritimes officials have set November 2008 as their target for new capacity to go on line.

Contacted at his office on Monday, company spokesman Steve Rankin said the open house will address only the new pipeline proposed for New Brunswick.

Although the company plans to expand its pipeline in Maine, he said that separate meetings would be held about that project. “We are also looking at expanding the [Baileyville] facility,” he said.

Irving Oil Ltd. and Repsol YPF SA announced in June that they had formed a new partnership. Canaport LNG will construct, own and operate the LNG regasification terminal in Saint John. The Canaport LNG terminal will be running in 2008, initially delivering 750 million cubic feet per day of regasified LNG into the market.

The Canadian LNG proposal is in direct competition with similar LNG terminals that have been proposed for Pleasant Point, Robbinston and Calais in Maine.

Maritimes is owned by affiliates of Duke Energy. The majority owners are Emera Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp.