INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Petronet seeks more LNG to sate hunger

* Petronet looking to buy a further 9mtpa of LNG by 2012

* Negotiating with InterOil to buy its entire LNG output

* Plans to go upstream, keen to build LNG plant in Australia

By Fayen Wong

PERTH, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Petronet LNG (PLNG.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), India's biggest gas importer, has a huge appetite for gas and is still looking to buy a further 9 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year by 2012, amid a planned expansion of its LNG import terminals, a top company official said on Tuesday.

To secure supplies, Petronet is in talks to buy the entire output of Canadian Interoil's (IOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) proposed LNG project in Papua New Guinea, while it is also looking to buy more LNG supplies from the ExxonMobil-led (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) LNG project also in Papua New Guinea, besides Chevron's Gorgon LNG project in Australia.

"We are looking to buy the entire output in the first phase of InterOil's project. That's the strength we bring on the table, because then InterOil won't have to go around the world to find customers," Petronet Managing Director Prosad Dasgupta told Reuters in an interview at the LNG World conference.

Apart from discussions to buy all of InterOil's LNG output, Dasgupta said the firm was also in talks with InterOil, and other firms, in Papua New Guinea to acquire stakes in gas fields.

InterOil, which is in the process of selling a stake of up to 35 percent in its LNG project in Papua New Guinea, said on Monday it expected the sale to be completed by year-end, adding that there has been strong interest from Asian utilities. [ID:nSYU006988]