Tunisia’s government has reached a deal with protesters who have disrupted Petrofac gas production for months in a step to stop the British energy firm closing its business and resuming production in the Kerkennah facility, reported Press Tv.

Official with Petrofac have been demanding guarantees from the government that its production would not be disrupted again, according to Reuters. Yet, a spokesperson for the company said: “we look forward to resuming business as usual in Tunisia.”

The agreement involves employing local youth and creating a development fund amid deep recession and rising joblessness in the northern African country.

Petrofac, which supplies 13 percent of Tunisia’s gas through the Chergui venture in the south, officially informed the government late September that it had started shutting down its local gas operations. Furthermore, it had threatened to leave Tunisia and end its investment if protests over jobs that have disrupted gas production for nine months were not stopped. The Tunisian government officials said importing gas from Algeria to make up for the shortfall caused by output disruptions has cost the government about $100m in the first nine months of 2016.