diff --git a/providers/google-compute-engine/src/main/java/org/jclouds/googlecomputeengine/config/GoogleComputeEngineHttpApiModule.java b/providers/google-compute-engine/src/main/java/org/jclouds/googlecomputeengine/config/GoogleComputeEngineHttpApiModule.java
index 31f3786bd9..bbf10f040c 100644
--- a/providers/google-compute-engine/src/main/java/org/jclouds/googlecomputeengine/config/GoogleComputeEngineHttpApiModule.java
+++ b/providers/google-compute-engine/src/main/java/org/jclouds/googlecomputeengine/config/GoogleComputeEngineHttpApiModule.java
@@ -101,10 +101,20 @@ public class GoogleComputeEngineHttpApiModule extends HttpApiModule<GoogleComput
       return MemoizedRetryOnTimeOutButNotOnAuthorizationExceptionSupplier.create(authException,
               compose(new Function<Credentials, String>() {
                  public String apply(Credentials in) {
-                    checkState(in.identity.indexOf("@") != 1,
-                            "identity should be in project_id@developer.gserviceaccount.com format");
-
-                    Project project = api.getProjectApi().get(Iterables.get(Splitter.on("@").split(in.identity), 0));
+                    // ID should be of the form project_id@developer.gserviceaccount.com 
+                    // OR (increasingly often) project_id-extended_uid@developer.gserviceaccount.com
+                    // where project_id is the NUMBER;
+                    // HERE we also accept simply "project" as the identity, if no "@" is present;
+                    // this is used in tests, but not sure if it is valid in the wild.
+                    String projectName = in.identity;
+                    if (projectName.indexOf("@") != -1) {
+                       projectName = Iterables.get(Splitter.on("@").split(projectName), 0);
+                       if (projectName.indexOf("-") != -1) {
+                          // if ID is of the form project_id-extended_uid@developer.gserviceaccount.com
+                          projectName = Iterables.get(Splitter.on("-").split(projectName), 0);
+                       }
+                    }
+                    Project project = api.getProjectApi().get(projectName);
                     return project.getName();
                  }
               }, creds), seconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS);