Alternative energy developer OriginOil Inc. on Wednesday said that it plans to move trading on its shares from the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board to a major U.S. exchange in the next several months.

The announcement follows a big order for the Los Angeles company, which went public in April 2008 and has developed a process to extract oil from algae. Last month, MBD Energy Ltd., an Australian company developing carbon-capture and storage facilities at coal-fired power stations, ordered a large-scale oil system from Origin.

Origin Chief Executive Riggs Eckelberry declined to say which exchange his company intends to apply to, but said that his company’s stock meets most financial reporting and other requirements to be listed on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange – aside from its current 15 cent per share price.

“Our move to a national exchange will allow us greater access to capital from institutional investors which will help us meet increasing worldwide demand for our unique algae extraction technology,” said Eckelberry. He noted that a South San Francisco algae-based fuel developer, Solazyme Inc., recently raised more than $200 million in its initial public offering and now trades at $21.73 per share

OriginOil, which has a $30 million market cap and more than 202 million outstanding shares, likely will perform a reverse stock-split to increase its share price, Eckelberry said. The company has roughly 6,000 shareholders.

Shares closed up 2 cents, or nearly 14 percent, to 15 cents on the OTC.