Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach is preparing to restart the Amenas gas plant more than a month after a fatal siege by Islamic militants.

The company’s chief executive officer, Abdelhamid Zerguine, said the plant will be restarted “just before 24 February”, according to the official APS news agency.

Up to 37 expatriate workers died during the siege, which ended on 19 January after a shoot-out with Algerian forces.

The In Amenas gas field, located close to Algeria’s border with Libya, is operated by the UK’s BP in partnership with Norway’s Statoil and Sonatrach.