An early-stage study which defines the basic nature of a project, taking account of all stakeholder requirements; it produces a scoping design, outline cost estimate and sometimes project economics. A FEED study is often used as a critical stage document on which agreement is necessary before a project proceeds to the next stage of partner commitment and is always used in oil and gas exploration and development projects prior to the final development phase. For a gas field development, the objective of the FEED study is to verify the field operator’s engineering assumptions in or to enable them to commit to potential buyers with a firm gas price. Often commitment to buyers on price without FEED will expose the joint venture to significant risk should actual capital expenditure be more than estimated. FEED is therefore a critical phase to progression of gas sales activities