Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, Thailand's state-controlled oil and gas exploration company, has discovered a ``significant amount'' of natural gas and oil reserves in Myanmar, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.

The discovery will secure a sufficient supply of natural gas and oil for the country in the future, Thaksin said in a weekly radio address today. Thaksin on Aug. 2 discussed cooperation between Thailand and the neighboring country with General Than Shwe, head of the ruling military junta, in Myanmar's new capital, Pyinmana, he said.

Bangkok-based PTT Exploration, 66 percent owned by state- controlled PTT Pcl, plans to spend 233 billion baht ($6.16 billion) in the five years to 2010 to boost production of crude oil and natural gas at home and overseas. The company has contracts to explore and develop oil and gas fields in countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and Algeria.

``Myanmar will continue to be Thailand's biggest source of energy,'' Thaksin said. Thailand and Myanmar also plan to jointly build hydro power plants and dams on rivers bordering both countries, he said.

PTT Exploration, the country's second-biggest natural gas producer, owns the sole right to explore for oil and natural gas in three projects in the Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar. The company is a minority shareholder in the Yadana and Yetagun gas fields in the Gulf of Martaban. Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl, Thailand's biggest private power producer, buys all the natural gas it uses to generate power from Myanmar's Yadana and Yetagun fields.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been under international sanctions since the ruling military junta rejected the results of elections in 1990, which were won by the opposition National League for Democracy. The U.S. is seeking a United Nations Security Council resolution criticizing Myanmar's detention of political prisoners after the junta in May extended NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house detention for a year.

Thaksin said he also discussed slow political development in Myanmar.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 5, 2006 00:19 EDT