Russian gas giant Gazprom and Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell have signed a framework agreement on the joint design concept for a planned Baltic LNG project, Kallanish Energy reports.

The firms agreed last year to set up a joint venture to implement the Baltic LNG project – a liquefaction plant in the port of Ust-Luga, in Russia’s Leningrad region. With a 10 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) capacity, the planned plant would target markets in the Atlantic region, Middle East, and South Asia, according to kallanishenergy.com.

The project could also serve small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets in the areas of the Baltic and North Sea, with the possibility of LNG swap deals under consideration.

The signing of the so-called pre-FEED (front end engineering design) was done last week during the Eighth St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, and marks the “next stage” in the project’s development.

A joint feasibility study has been “successfully completed,” Gazprom said, without providing further details.