LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - Oil giant Aramco is

in talks with U.S. firms Tellurian and NextDecade ( NEXT )

on two separate liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects as

the Saudi firm seeks to boost its gas trading and production,

three sources close to the talks told Reuters.

U.S. gas production has boomed over the past decade with oil

majors and Aramco's rivals such as Qatar Energy competing to

build several projects to export gas to Europe and Asia.

The state energy firm is in talks with Tellurian to

buy a stake in its 27.6 million metric ton per annum (mtpa)

Driftwood LNG plant near Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Aramco officials visited the site three times this year -

including together with executives from Australia's Woodside on

one of those occasions, said the sources who declined to be

identified as talks are not public.

Aramco is also in talks with U.S. LNG firm NextDecade ( NEXT )

for a long-term gas purchase agreement from a proposed

fifth processing unit at its $18 billion Rio Grande facility.

Aramco declined to comment. Tellurian said it does not

comment on market speculation. Woodside said it continuously

assesses organic and inorganic growth opportunities but declined

further comment. NextDecade ( NEXT ) did not immediately respond to

Reuters' request for comment.

Aramco is seeking to strengthen its position in the LNG

market, which is set to grow globally by 50% by 2030, especially

in the United States, where LNG capacity is set to almost double

over the next four years.

Tellurian has spent years and hundreds of millions of

dollars trying to finance and build the Driftwood plant.

Last fall, Tellurian warned investors that within a year the

company might not be able to cover operating and debt costs due

to continued losses and dwindling cash reserves.

An Aramco investment could provide the turnaround that

Driftwood LNG needs, said Kaushal Ramesh, Rystad Energy's vice

president for LNG research.

Driftwood is not affected by President Biden's pause on LNG

export projects as it already has a Department of Energy permit

to export the proposed plant's super-chilled gas to countries

that do not have free-trade agreements with the U.S.

In February, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

gave Tellurian a three-year permit extension to complete

construction of Driftwood.

Aramco is one of the world's largest oil producers and the

top exporter, pumping nearly 10% of the world's crude supply.

However, its presence in the LNG market is dwarfed by

neighbouring Qatar. UAE's ADNOC also has a bigger

presence.

Aramco made its first LNG investment abroad when it bought a

stake in U.S.-based MidOcean Energy for $500 million last year.

In March, Reuters reported that Aramco was in talks to

invest in Sempra Infrastructure's Port Arthur project in Texas.

It is also competing with Shell to buy the assets

of Temasek-owned LNG trading firm Pavilion Energy.