KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's state oil firm Petronas is studying plans for a Canadian gas asset acquisition that may exceed S$6.3 billion as the firm looks to boost supplies of the fuel to energy-guzzling Asia, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Petronas officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.

Bloomberg cited Petronas Chief Executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas as saying there were "quite a few candidates out there" in Canada who were willing to talk and that a deal might be announced within three months.

Petronas has already made a big push into Canada, specifically its shale gas sector. Last year Petronas bought a stake in a shale gas field in Canada for S$1.4 billion from Progress Energy Resources Corp.