Gazprom, Shell sign memo on Baltic LNG project

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 16 (Reuters) - Gazprom and Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding on construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the Russian coast of the Baltic Sea.

The memorandum says the companies will look into possibilities of building the LNG plant in the port of Ust-Luga with an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes.

Gazprom and Shell are already partners in Russia's only LNG plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin which has a capacity of 10 million tonnes per year.

Gazprom has said the Baltic LNG plant could produce up to 20 million tonnes of frozen gas per year.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Shell CEO Ben van Beurden on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Jack Stubbs)