MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russian gas giant Gazprom could become the richest company in the world, a Russian first deputy prime minister said in an interview with a German magazine Thursday.

"Gazprom has the largest natural gas reserves in the world. When I joined the board of directors (in 2000), the concern was worth about $8 billion, but today it is more than $250 billion. One day it could become the world's most valuable company," Dmitry Medvedev, who is also chairman of the Gazprom board of directors, said in an interview with Stern magazine.

He said enterprises that own strategic resources must be under state control.

"The entire country, its population, depends on Gazprom. We do not want to risk an economic or political collapse that could occur should the enterprise be sold to a dozen or so private owners," he said.

Medvedev said Gazprom has always honored its contractual delivery obligations, and nothing in the future would change in this respect.

"And please don't forget that German firms have a 6% share in Gazprom," the first deputy prime minister said.