Sonatrach, Baker Hughes Form JV

State energy company Sonatrach and Baker Hughes, part of GE (BHGE), will set up a joint venture and build an oil equipment plant in Algeria at a cost of $45 million under a deal signed on Thursday, Sonatrach said.

Algeria's Sonatrach will hold a 51 percent stake and BHGE the remaining 49 percent in the project which will be based in Azrew in western Algeria, it said in a statement.

The site is due to start production in December 2019.

"With Sonatrach, we are able to establish a strong manufacturing hub that will increase local capacity and boost exports," BHGE CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said in the statement.

Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed