* Algeria oil minister says plant could restart by Tuesday
* BP, Statoil have no information on state of site
* Gas exports to Italy, Spain unaffected on Monday
LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - It is not yet known when theAlgerian In Amenas gas complex will restart after a bloody siegeby Islamist fighters there ended on Sunday, operators BP and Statoil said on Monday.
The field produces 9 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas peryear, equal to around 11 percent of Algeria's yearly gasproduction. The North African country is an important gassupplier to Europe, most notably Italy and Spain which itsupplies via subsea pipelines.
Algeria's Oil Minister said during a visit to the site onSunday the plant could restart within two days as damage to theinstallation was not very significant.
However, a spokesman for BP said the company, which owns 46percent of the In Amenas joint venture, had no information aboutthe state of the site.
"There's no guidance on start up," he said, a comment alsogiven by a Statoil spokesman.
Gas exports from Algeria to Italy were above their 30-dayaverage on Monday, the Italian grid operator said, and tradersadded Algerian gas flows to Spain were normal.
Algeria exported 34.4 bcm of gas in 2011, more than 60percent of which was sent to Italy via pipelines, according toBP statistics.
The In Amenas site is located around 1,300 kilometres fromthe capital Algiers and is jointly owned by BP, Statoil andAlgeria's national oil and gas company Sonatrach.
Sonatrach estimates it is losing around $11 million a daydue to the shutdown of the In Amenas plant, a company sourcesaid.
The death toll from the siege reached at least 80 aftertroops stormed the complex to end the hostage crisis and theraid has exposed the vulnerability of multinational-run oil andgas installations in an important producing region.