Australia's second largest electricity retailer Origin Energy (OGFGF) will build multi billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, four of which, to be located in Queensland.

Origin chief executive Grant King said, “The time has now come” for discussions on mergers. The Australian energy firm has US energy ConocoPhillips (COP) as a partner in the LNG plant projects; however, the US partner has not yet signed up any customers.

King said the merger would not only secure customers, it will save costs. The chief executive also said Origin is likely to merge entire LNG plants along with gas reserves from jointly-owned gas fields or mid-stream infrastructure such as pipelines.

Negotiations with customers at this point, according to King remains “comfortable and confident.” However, he disclosed that finding buyers today is more challenging than the market had anticipated two years ago.

In spite of these developments, King said a few LNG projects have recently achieved a final investment decision and uncontracted demand is still expected until around 2015. The demand is expected for projects that are close to receiving regulatory approval such as Origin's.

The Sydney-based Origin is confident that they could reach a final investment decision for its project by the end of 2010. Regulatory and technical issues are also expected to be resolved by that time.

King stressed that the company will not shelve off the projects until a customer is found.