ALGIERS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Energy Minister, Youcef Yousfi, said Saturday that the deadly attack on a gas field of Tiguentourine in southern Algeria has not affected gas export of the North African country, local APS news agency reported on Sunday.
The minister said that "We have not reduced our gas export, as we have managed to offset the lack of output by other plants."
"The output of Tiguentourine gas field is minor comparing with our general gas production," he added.
On Wednesday, an armed group assaulted the gas field and seized a number of workers as hostages. The day after, Algerian army launched an operation to rescue the hostages, which ended on Saturday evening, during which at least 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed, according to the initial figure of the Interior Ministry.
Explosive specialists are conducting a mine-clearance operation in the gas field.
Yousfi said the gas field will resume work as soon as the mine action ends.
The gas field of Tiguentourine, which began producing in 2006, is run by the Algerian energy group Sonatrach with two foreign partners, the British Petroleum (BP) and Statoil.
