kogas eyes lng deals in australia, indonesia

* Kogas to buy 15 pct of GLNG
* KOGAS seen confident of govt approval for purchase (Adds analyst comment, background)

SEOUL/PERTH Oct 12 (Reuters) - Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) (036460.KS: Quote) aims to acquire stakes in Australian and Indonesian liquefied natural gas projects to secure stable supplies, the state-run utility said in a report to parliament on Tuesday.

The world's largest LNG buyer said it was in talks to acquire a 15 percent stake in a coal seam gas project led by Australia's Santos Ltd (STO.AX: Quote) and a 9.8 percent stake in Indonesia's Senoro Toili project run by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T: Quote).

The company did not provide a financial value for either of the potential deals, but sources with knowledge of the Australian deal said in August that KOGAS would invest more than $1 billion in the Santos's Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project.

"The US $1 billion fundraising report lends credence to the first report that KOGAS will take a larger 15 percent of GLNG, rather than the 10 percent commonly reported previously," said Benjamin Wilson, an analyst with JP Morgan in a note.

"We think this news implies Kogas is confident it will achieve Korean government approval to contract/purchase soon," Wilson said.

Total (TOTF.PA: Quote) paid A$650 million ($597.4 million at the time) for 15 percent of the coal seam gas-fed liquefied natural gas project in Australia's north east state of Queensland in September.[

Santos currently owns 45 percent of Gladstone, Petronas has 35 percent and Total holds 20 percent.

In addition to buying a stake in the GLNG project, KOGAS has also been expected to sign an offtake agreement for 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the project.

The state-run utility sold 24.6 million tonnes of LNG in 2009 and said in February that it was planning to spend about 1 trillion won ($895.4 million) this year on overseas resource development to secure energy supplies for Asia's fourth-largest economy. ($1=1116.7 Won)

(Reporting by Yeojung Chang in Seoul and Rebekah Kebede in Perth; Editing by Yoo Choonsik and Chris Lewis)