PetroChina, China's biggest oil producer, said it might invest as much as US$1 billion (US$8.3 billion) in Thailand's oil and gas fields and its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business.

Thailand was not convenient partner, PetroChina's chief financial officer Wang Guoliang said in Bangkok on Wednesday.

China, the world's second-largest energy consumer, is looking for new sources of oil and gas.

Thailand is also seeking investors from China, South Korea and Japan for a proposed US$5 billion pipeline and refinery in the country's south. The government wants Thailand to rival Singapore as one of Southeast Asia's main oil-trading centers.

China's crude oil consumption may more than double in the next 22 years to 12.8 million barrels a day, according to a forecast by the United States Energy Information Administration.

PetroChina needs to find fresh sources of crude oil because its production is reaching full capacity as the country's speedy economic development requires an increasing amount of oil and natural gas.

"PetroChina will definitely be one of the oil companies involved in the plan to expand China's oil resources and I believe the government will back it up," Atlantis Investment's Liu said.

PetroChina may sell yuan-denominated A shares in China, Wang said in Bangkok, without giving further details of a plan that would raise funds for the company's expansion.

(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)