diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/BigQueryImpl.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/BigQueryImpl.java
index 9f2d46dbf46f..e30b0ffd2156 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/BigQueryImpl.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/BigQueryImpl.java
@@ -625,7 +625,11 @@ private static Tuple<? extends Page<FieldValueList>, Long> listTableData(
       final BigQueryOptions serviceOptions,
       final Map<BigQueryRpc.Option, ?> optionsMap) {
     try {
-      final TableId completeTableId = tableId.setProjectId(serviceOptions.getProjectId());
+      final TableId completeTableId =
+          tableId.setProjectId(
+              Strings.isNullOrEmpty(serviceOptions.getProjectId())
+                  ? tableId.getProject()
+                  : serviceOptions.getProjectId());
       TableDataList result =
           runWithRetries(
               new Callable<TableDataList>() {
diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfo.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfo.java
index 2ed0891a83fd..37831cf943e4 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfo.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfo.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 
 import com.google.api.client.util.Data;
+import com.google.api.client.util.Strings;
 import com.google.api.core.BetaApi;
 import com.google.api.services.bigquery.model.Table;
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
@@ -396,7 +397,10 @@ public static TableInfo of(TableId tableId, TableDefinition definition) {
   }
 
   TableInfo setProjectId(String projectId) {
-    return toBuilder().setTableId(getTableId().setProjectId(projectId)).build();
+    if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(getTableId().getProject())) {
+      return toBuilder().setTableId(getTableId().setProjectId(projectId)).build();
+    }
+    return this;
   }
 
   Table toPb() {
diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfiguration.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfiguration.java
index 308042fbf7e5..d84d8b60a392 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfiguration.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfiguration.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 
+import com.google.api.client.util.Strings;
 import com.google.api.services.bigquery.model.JobConfigurationLoad;
 import com.google.cloud.bigquery.JobInfo.CreateDisposition;
 import com.google.cloud.bigquery.JobInfo.SchemaUpdateOption;
@@ -390,7 +391,10 @@ public int hashCode() {
   }
 
   WriteChannelConfiguration setProjectId(String projectId) {
-    return toBuilder().setDestinationTable(getDestinationTable().setProjectId(projectId)).build();
+    if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(getDestinationTable().getProject())) {
+      return toBuilder().setDestinationTable(getDestinationTable().setProjectId(projectId)).build();
+    }
+    return this;
   }
 
   com.google.api.services.bigquery.model.JobConfiguration toPb() {
diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfoTest.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfoTest.java
index cfc0d646fc00..98434713478d 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfoTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/TableInfoTest.java
@@ -226,6 +226,13 @@ public void testSetProjectId() {
     assertEquals("project", VIEW_INFO.setProjectId("project").getTableId().getProject());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSetProjectIdDoNotOverride() {
+    TableInfo tableInfo = TableInfo.of(TABLE_ID, TABLE_DEFINITION).setProjectId("project");
+    tableInfo.setProjectId("not-override-project").toBuilder();
+    assertEquals("project", tableInfo.getTableId().getProject());
+  }
+
   private void compareTableInfo(TableInfo expected, TableInfo value) {
     assertEquals(expected, value);
     assertEquals(expected.getTableId(), value.getTableId());
diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfigurationTest.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfigurationTest.java
index b3a0b7a9e90c..9fe80612a059 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfigurationTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-bigquery/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/WriteChannelConfigurationTest.java
@@ -164,6 +164,14 @@ public void testToPbAndFromPb() {
     compareLoadConfiguration(configuration, WriteChannelConfiguration.fromPb(configuration.toPb()));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSetProjectIdDoNotOverride() {
+    WriteChannelConfiguration configuration =
+        WriteChannelConfiguration.of(TABLE_ID).setProjectId("project");
+    configuration.setProjectId("different-project").toBuilder();
+    assertEquals("project", configuration.getDestinationTable().getProject());
+  }
+
   private void compareLoadConfiguration(
       WriteChannelConfiguration expected, WriteChannelConfiguration value) {
     assertEquals(expected, value);