diff --git a/cmd/gateway-gcs-errors.go b/cmd/gateway-gcs-errors.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..591d76d45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/gateway-gcs-errors.go
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Minio Cloud Storage, (C) 2017 Minio, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package cmd
+
+import "errors"
+
+var (
+	// Project is format is not valid
+	errGCSInvalidProjectID = errors.New("invalid project id")
+
+	// Multipart identifier is not in the correct form
+	errGCSNotValidMultipartIdentifier = errors.New("Not a valid multipart identifier")
+)
diff --git a/cmd/gateway-gcs.go b/cmd/gateway-gcs.go
index 07fdb4772..8f0b87e1c 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway-gcs.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway-gcs.go
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@ import (
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/hex"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"hash"
 	"io"
 	"path"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -39,11 +39,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/minio/minio-go/pkg/policy"
 )
 
-var (
-	// ErrNotValidMultipartIdentifier the multipart identifier is not in the correct form
-	ErrNotValidMultipartIdentifier = errors.New("Not a valid multipart identifier")
-)
-
 const (
 	// ZZZZMinioPrefix is used for metadata and multiparts. The prefix is being filtered out,
 	// hence the naming of ZZZZ (last prefix)
@@ -154,6 +149,17 @@ func gcsToObjectError(err error, params ...string) error {
 	return e
 }
 
+// gcsProjectIDRegex defines a valid gcs project id format
+var gcsProjectIDRegex = regexp.MustCompile("^[a-z][a-z0-9-]{5,29}$")
+
+// isValidGCSProjectId - checks if a given project id is valid or not.
+// Project IDs must start with a lowercase letter and can have lowercase
+// ASCII letters, digits or hyphens. Project IDs must be between 6 and 30 characters.
+// Ref: https://cloud.google.com/resource-manager/reference/rest/v1/projects#Project (projectId section)
+func isValidGCSProjectID(projectID string) bool {
+	return gcsProjectIDRegex.MatchString(projectID)
+}
+
 // gcsGateway - Implements gateway for Minio and GCS compatible object storage servers.
 type gcsGateway struct {
 	client     *storage.Client
@@ -171,6 +177,11 @@ func newGCSGateway(args cli.Args) (GatewayLayer, error) {
 	endpoint := "storage.googleapis.com"
 	secure := true
 	projectID := args.First()
+
+	if !isValidGCSProjectID(projectID) {
+		fatalIf(errGCSInvalidProjectID, "Unable to initialize GCS gateway")
+	}
+
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
 	// Creates a client.
@@ -611,11 +622,11 @@ func fromGCSMultipartKey(s string) (key, uploadID string, partID int, err error)
 
 	parts := strings.Split(s, "-")
 	if parts[0] != "multipart" {
-		return "", "", 0, ErrNotValidMultipartIdentifier
+		return "", "", 0, errGCSNotValidMultipartIdentifier
 	}
 
 	if len(parts) != 4 {
-		return "", "", 0, ErrNotValidMultipartIdentifier
+		return "", "", 0, errGCSNotValidMultipartIdentifier
 	}
 
 	key = unescape(parts[1])
diff --git a/cmd/gateway-gcs_test.go b/cmd/gateway-gcs_test.go
index 9cf6fffa6..0466a8d65 100644
--- a/cmd/gateway-gcs_test.go
+++ b/cmd/gateway-gcs_test.go
@@ -95,3 +95,37 @@ func TestToGCSPageToken(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+// TestValidGCSProjectID tests the behavior of isValidGCSProjectID
+func TestValidGCSProjectID(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		ProjectID string
+		Valid     bool
+	}{
+		{"", false},
+		{"a", false},
+		{"Abc", false},
+		{"1bcd", false},
+		// 5 chars
+		{"abcdb", false},
+		// 6 chars
+		{"abcdbz", true},
+		// 30 chars
+		{"project-id-1-project-id-more-1", true},
+		// 31 chars
+		{"project-id-1-project-id-more-11", false},
+		{"storage.googleapis.com", false},
+		{"http://storage.googleapis.com", false},
+		{"http://localhost:9000", false},
+		{"project-id-1", true},
+		{"project-id-1988832", true},
+		{"projectid1414", true},
+	}
+
+	//
+	for i, testCase := range testCases {
+		if isValidGCSProjectID(testCase.ProjectID) != testCase.Valid {
+			t.Errorf("Test %d: Expected %v, got %v", i+1, isValidGCSProjectID(testCase.ProjectID), testCase.Valid)
+		}
+	}
+}