MOSCOW, June 17 (Reuters) - Russian gas company Gazprom may offer up to 49 percent in its Baltic LNG projectto a strategic partner and the most likely candidates are RoyalDutch Shell or a consortium of Japanese firms, Russia'sKommersant newspaper said on Wednesday.
The agreement may be signed this week during an economicforum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg, it reported,quoting sources in the gas industry.
Gazprom was not available for immediate comment.
The gas producer plans to build a liquefied natural gasplant in the Baltic sea port of Ust-Luga with an annual capacityof 10 million tonnes. It also wants to be able to increaseoutput to 15 million tonnes a year. An Ust-Luga port officialsaid on Tuesday the company may need around 1 trillion roubles($18.50 billion) to build the plant. ($1 = 54.0550 roubles) (Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Elizabeth Piper)