Twenty-three gas stations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire supplied by Irving Oil have closed during the past two weeks.

The Massachusetts-based company that owned them, C.K. Smith, was having trouble making a profit in the retail fuel business.

The closures won't hurt Irving's expansion in the United States, said Liza Dube, public relations director for Irving Oil marketing in Portsmouth, N.H.

"You know, I think that with any company that's trying to grow the way we're trying to grow, you have to expect some growing pains that go along with that," she said.

"So, of course, we were disappointed to see those locations close. But because we've grown so much more than we've seen any setback like this, we're feeling pretty good about the growth that we've had in that region."

Irving stopped operating its own gas stations in New England a year and a half ago and won't revisit the idea, said Dube.

Irving supplies fuel to more than 300 stations from Maine to Rhode Island. Although the company doesn't own those stations, the gas is sold under the Irving banner.

Earlier this week, Irving Oil's Ltd.'s parent company, Fort Reliance, announced that current economic conditions have forced it to abandon plans to build a $30-million world headquarters at Long Wharf on the Saint John waterfront.

It is the second major project that Irving Oil has halted in the city in the last year.

In July, Irving Oil and BP stopped plans to build a second oil refinery in Saint John.

Irving Oil had partnered with BP to build the $8-billion project, which is known as Eider Rock, and construction was supposed to start in 2011. The refinery project was to create 5,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.