As the price of exploration increases with higher gas prices, PTTEP said it will develop an LNG plant that uses its existing supplies, the Bangkok Post reported.

PTT Exploration and Production will join its parent company, PTT Plc, to develop an LNG plant that will use supplies from its existing natural gas fields.

The move reportedly comes as PTT faces problems securing long-term LNG supplies. PTT's multimillion-dollar LNG receiving terminal at Map Ta Phut is expected to be operational in 2011 with an annual capacity of 5 million tons, but supplies have only been secured for 1 million tons per year through a contract with Qatar.

Anon Sirisaengtaksin, the PTTEP chief executive officer, said the company had exploration licenses for 61 wells in 14 countries. Of these, 26 were in overseas fields, including in the Middle East and Africa.

Gas demand is expected to jump to 5,000 million cubic feet per day by 2011 from 3,300 million today.