(Adds details on plant recovery)
ALGIERS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Algeria's Tiguentourine gas planthas resumed full production for the first time since a militantattack in 2013, after its third train came back online, a seniorsource at state energy company Sonatrach said on Thursday.
The plant, operated with BP and Statoil witha full capacity of 9 billion cubic metres a year, bought itsthird train back to work on July 27, recovering from theIslamist militant assault and siege that killed 40 oil workers,the source said.
The increase at Tiguentourine, which supplied more than 10percent of Algeria's total natural gas output before the attack,is a boost for the OPEC nation just as Algeria and the EuropeanUnion are in talks about improving energy cooperation.
Algeria hopes dozens of projects, mostly in its southwesternSahara, will generate new output and help keep its flow of gasto Europe stable longer term. But it has struggled to attractthe investment needed to discover and develop new fields andmaintain old ones. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; writing by Patrick Markey; editingby Susan Thomas)