FRANKFURT, Sept 8 (Reuters) - German long-distance gas shipper Thyssengas is interested in cooperating more with Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM by tapping into a pipeline extension the Russian company plans to build, the head of Thyssengas said in a newspaper interview on Thursday.
Chief Executive Axel Botzenhardt said in the local daily Der Westen that closer business relations with Gazprom could give a boost to the industrial German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Thyssengas is based.
"North Rhine-Westphalia could rise up to become a new European gas hub," he said, linking this to importing more Russian gas.
"This vision could be realised within 10 years," he said.
The state would need a direct link to German inland pipelines due to transport more gas from the landing point for Gazprom's planned Nord Stream 2 project in northeastern Germany, he said.
"We are meeting them (Gazprom) halfway by getting our own pipeline planning on the way," Botzenhardt was quoted as saying.
A Thyssengas media spokesman said the report was correct.
Thyssengas, which transports 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year in its 4,200-km grid and participates in Germany's virtual NCG gas trading hub, plans a 100-km link to the Westphalia storage facility Epe from a huge Lower Saxony storage site at Rehden, which already holds Gazprom gas.
Botzenhardt said his company could amass 300 million euros ($338 million) for that purpose, with partners.
Nord Stream 2 would run alongside the existing Nord Stream 1, doubling import capacity to 110 bcm from 2019.
Opponents say Nord Stream 2 could bind Europe indefinitely to Gazprom at a time when gas sources are plentiful and more choice would help cut prices for consumers.
The company is being sold by infrastructure firm Macquarie MQG.AX , which bought it from its initial owner, utility RWE RWEG.DE , to Dutch fund DIF and French utility EDF EDF.PA . has strong links to Norwegian and Dutch gas producers but Dutch domestic resources will be running out by 2030.
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