GDF Suez insists on control of Belgian gas hub-CEO

BRUSSELS, July 20 (Reuters) - GDF Suez (LYOE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) would look elsewhere if it lost control of the liquid natural gas terminal at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, its chief executive said in an interview with a Belgian newspaper at the weekend.

"If one were to nationalise the terminal then GDF Suez would be obliged to expand its gas hub somewhere else and the traffic in Zeebrugge would fall," Gerard Mestrallet told De Morgen newspaper.

French utility Suez, which has just sealed its merger with Gaz de France, was obliged to reduce its stake in Belgian gas network operator Fluxys (DIST.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to below 45 percent from 57.25 percent, to accord with European Commission requirements.

It recently sold a 12.5 percent stake to Britain's Ecofin Ltd (ECW.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

However, Belgian public holding Publigas, with a 31.25 percent stake, has been unhappy with the French utility's plans to separate Fluxys into two -- the natural gas pipeline network operator and the Zeebrugge gas hub.

Suez wants to retain a 60 percent interest in the Zeebrugge gas terminal, which Publigas chairman Daniel Termont has resisted.

Termont, who is also the mayor of Ghent, was quoted by Belgian media expressing his anger at Mestrallet's comments.

"If Suez cannot, then other groups will use the terminal," he said.

He has said that Fluxys should be majority-controlled by the public holding and that it should include the gas terminal. (Writing by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Richard Hubbard)