Baker Hughes GE hunts for small oil, gas projects in Asia

* Seeks to work with smaller companies in developing countries

* Cautiously optimistic on Asia-Pacific region

* Provides oilfield services, financing

By Florence Tan

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (Reuters) - Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes GE (BHGE) is on the hunt for smaller oil and gas projects in Asia Pacific to replicate a project in Papua New Guinea where it is providing services and financing, a senior company executive said.

The company, formed from the merger of GE's oil and gas services and equipment business and Baker Hughes, is seeing signs of renewed interest in oil and gas projects in the region, driven by smaller firms, Asia-Pacific President Visal Leng said on the sidelines of the OTC Asia conference.

BHGE offers resource assessment through to drilling and production. It wants to work with smaller companies looking to develop smaller fields and stranded resources in countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Myanmar where there is also demand for natural gas to generate electricity.

The move to tackle such projects comes in the wake of the 2014 oil price crash, which devastated the region's oilfield services sector after producers sharply cut back spending on oil and gas exploration.

"We're cautiously optimistic on the (Asia-Pacific) region because projects are slowly coming back. We also see some smaller projects in size, not by NOCs (national oil companies) or IOCs (international oil companies), but by smaller operators," Leng said.

BHGE is currently working with private Australian company Twinza Oil which is developing the first offshore field for Papua New Guinea, providing fullstream services from assessing reserves to drilling and building the gas processing plant.

"We have taken more risks in development.... We have put some skin in the game with some financing," he said.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Richard Pullin)