BRISBANE, Australia (Bloomberg) — Golar LNG Ltd., the Norwegian liquefied natural gas tanker owner, said it may develop a floating LNG project with Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production Pcl off northern Australia.

The partners are studying the potential development of a floating LNG venture at a gas field owned by Coogee Resources Ltd., which PTT Exploration agreed to acquire in December, Gary Smith, chief executive officer of Bermuda-incorporated Golar, said yesterday at a conference in Brisbane.

Golar and Bangkok-based PTT Exploration signed an accord in August to explore business opportunities in offshore LNG production as the Norwegian company seeks to expand into ownership of supply projects. PTT Exploration, Thailand's only publicly traded oil and gas explorer, said earlier this week it will increase its five-year investment budget by 16 percent to include the acquisition of Perth-based Coogee.

"Coogee is the first real example where we're now looking at the possibility together of a floating LNG plant," Smith said in an interview at the conference. PTT Exploration acquired a number of permit areas through the Coogee acquisition and exactly where the gas will come from has yet to be determined, he said.

There's no timetable yet for developing the project, which would have the capacity to produce between 1 and 2 million metric tons a year of LNG using two processing units, Smith said.

The move follows Golar's purchase last month of a 40 percent stake in a proposed LNG production project in Australia's Queensland state led by Perth-based Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. It also comes as Golar expands its business in floating LNG receiving terminals, with the company's second such venture in Brazil, with Petroleo Brasileiro SA, starting yesterday to send gas ashore to Rio de Janeiro, Smith said in an address to the conference.

Golar is also working on floating LNG receiving projects in Dubai with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and in Italy and has "about 20 discussions going on about new terminals in just about every part of the world," Smith said.