Talisman Energy Inc. of Canada on Wednesday announced is it on the lookout for a business partner that will help the firm explore and develop four of 14 natural gas leases in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Talisman's acreage in PNG reportedly holds nearly four trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Calgary-based Talisman said it had appointed Sydney-based advisory RFC Corporate Finance to locate and screen potential investors for the western PNG licenses.

"Our intent was always to seek a strategic partner in what is a very large license interest position, once sufficient resources have been aggregated," said Dave Mann, a spokesman for Talisman. "RFC represents a formal process to execute on this."

Talisman holds 14 licences in the resource rich and infrastructure poor PNG, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The island has transformed into an investment hotspot for foreign energy and resources companies seeking to explore and exploit its vast stores of natural gas, copper and gold which can easily be fed to resource and energy hungry emerging Asian countries like China and India.

Talisman wants to sell part of its stakes in the PPL 235 and PPL 261 licences, both wholly owned, and the PRL 4 and PRL 21 licences which it owns at 50 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.

According to BP, PNG has 15.6 tcf of proven natural gas reserves as of the end of 2010.

Talisman could move its gas to the PNG liquefied natural gas project, set to launch exports of up to 6.6 million tons annually to Japan, Taiwan and China in 2014, The Calgary Herald reported.