Russia’s Gazprom and the state geological exploration services company Rosgeologia have signed memorandums of understanding with Bahrain’s state-owned Noga in the areas of liquified natural gas (LNG), and oil and gas exploration, Reuters reported.

The agreements were signed during a meeting between Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, in Moscow, according to S&P Global Platts.

Bahrain, looking to cover a shortfall in domestic gas supply, is building an 800mcf/day LNG terminal, expected to start operations in July 2018. Gazprom is considering to use the terminal for further LNG distribution to other Middle Eastern countries.

Gazprom leads the Sakhalin 2 consortium operating Russia’s only producing LNG plant on the island of Sakhalin in Russia’s far east. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 9.6m tons annually, but has been consistently producing above 10m tons a year since 2012.