* Full production to coincide with Aug. 1 ceremony - source
* Current production estimated at 16 mln cubic metres perday
* Algeria a top gas supplier to Europe
By Lamine Chikhi
TIGUENTOURINE, Algeria, July 23 (Reuters) - Algeria'sTiguentourine gas plant is ready to come fully back online forthe first time since a deadly militant attack in 2013, GeneralManager Kamel Aoues said on Saturday.
"Full production is for the coming days, all tests have beenpassed successfully," Aoues told Reuters during a press visit tothe site.
The plant, 1,600 km (995 miles) south east of the capitalAlgiers, is operated by Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach, BP and Statoil.
Current production is estimated at 16 million cubic metresper day, and should reach 24 million to 25 million cubic metreswhen the third and final section of the plant comes online,plant managers said.
Algeria is a top gas supplier to Europe. Its economy isheavily dependent on hydrocarbons exports, and the OPEC memberhas been struggling to boost production to offset the fall inoil prices.
A source who asked not to be named said the return to fullproduction would coincide with a ceremony at Tiguentourine onAug. 1 attended by Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa andSonatrach Chief Executive Amine Mazouzi.
In January 2013, 40 mostly foreign oil contractors werekilled after al Qaeda militants attacked the plant and tookdozens of workers hostage.
Currently, about 20 percent of the 500 employees at theplant are foreigners. The cost of repairing the plant wasestimated at $90 million, Aoues said.
Security is handled entirely by the military, which has avisible presence around the site. Several check points have tobe crossed to reach the plant.
"I have been in the plant for the past two months, it isquiet and safe," security contractor Robert Sherman told Reutersduring a tour around the site.
Algeria has become a key regional security partner for theWest after largely shaking off an Islamist insurgency that beganin the 1990s.
However, security in the southern desert regions has beenthreatened by regional instability, especially in Libya, whichis just 40 km from the Tiguentourine plant.
(Editing by Aidan Lewis)