Algerian troops have surrounded a gas facility in the east of the country where foreign workers are being held hostage by Islamist militants.
The kidnappers occupied the complex near In Amenas on Wednesday, after killing a Briton and an Algerian.
Algeria says some 20 foreign nationals are being held hostage, although the kidnappers say they have 41.
On Thursday, 30 Algerian workers escaped from the facility, the Algeria Press Service (APS) reported.
The foreign nationals held captive include British, Japanese, US, French and Norwegian.
Spokesmen for the militants say they have issued a list of demands. One statement purported to be from the hostage-takers called for an end to the French military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali.
BP, which operates the gas field jointly with Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and Norwegian firm Statoil, issued a statement on Thursday confirming that some of its staff were being held but saying that it would not be releasing any details.
Border closedAlgerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the militants wanted to leave the country with the hostages, but he had refused to let them go.
"We reject all negotiations with the group," he told reporters late on Wednesday.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar
- Fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in late 1980s
- Former leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb. Left in late 2012 after falling out with leaders
- Now heads the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion
- Known as "The One-Eyed" as he wears an eyepatch over a lost eye
- French intelligence has dubbed him "The Uncatchable", while locals refer to him as "Mister Marlboro" for his illicit cigarettes operation
An Algerian security official told Associated Press the Algerian government was discussing with the US and France whether an international force could help end the stand-off.
On Thursday, APS quoted local officials as saying that "30 Algerian workers managed to escape from the Tigantourine gas facility, where they had been held hostage since Wednesday".
The Tigantourine facility is about 40km (25 miles) south-west of In Amenas, which is close to the Libyan border and about 1,300km (800 miles) south-east of Algiers.
Mr Kablia said that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently falling out with other leaders.
Mr Kablia said a heavily armed "terrorist group" had attacked a bus carrying workers from In Amenas at about 05:00 (04:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
The attackers were repelled by police who had been escorting the bus, but a Briton and an Algerian national had been killed, Mr Kablia said.
Two other British nationals, a Norwegian, two police officers and a security guard were also hurt in the fire fight, he added.
Afterwards, the militants drove to the gas facility's living quarters and took Algerian and foreign workers hostage.
The foreign nationals were being held in one wing of the living quarters, which the security services and army had surrounded, Mr Kablia said.
Press review
Algerian and French press have been digesting the consequences of the hostage-taking.
In Algeria's Liberte, Salim Tamani writes that it could signal the start of reprisals for Algeria allowing French jets to use its airspace for actions in Mali.
Salem Ferdi writes in Algeria's Le Quotidien d'Oran that the attack "will have disastrous consequences for the Algerian oil and gas industry".
In France, Pierre Rousselin writes in Le Figaro that Algeria is "a country in which any French intervention gives rise to mistrust. Its resistance against the terrorist threat must be supported".
In Liberation, Vincent Giret says the latest incident shows the "war in Mali, where France is in the front line, is not a war waged by the former colonial power. It is a major international conflict".
"Since then, they've been facing off. The security forces are consolidating their position around the base," he added.
Early on Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed that a Briton had died and that "a number" of others were being held hostage.
He described the killings as the "cold-blooded murder of people going about their business".
A worker told France's Le Figaro newspaper the captors had mined the facility and demanded food, water and vehicles.
Mr Kablia said nearby border crossings had been closed as a precaution and that the foreign ministry was in contact with diplomats from the hostages' countries.
In its statement, BP said it was in "frequent contact" with the families of the hostages to provide support and was working "to secure a peaceful resolution".
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said 13 Norwegian employees of Statoil were believed held hostage at the gas facility. Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said one of its nationals was a hostage.
Japanese news agencies, citing unnamed government officials, said there were three Japanese hostages.
France said on Thursday it could not confirm whether any French citizens were among the hostages.
'Disastrous outcome'Two groups led by Belmokhtar - the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade and the Signed-in-Blood Battalion - said they were behind the incident.
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The BBC's Frank Gardner says there has been a spate of profit-driven abductions in the region
Earlier, a man claiming to be a spokesman for the militants told BBC Arabic that al-Qaeda had carried out the attack.
A list of demands had been sent to Algerian authorities, and the hostages would be killed if troops attempted to rescue them, the spokesman added.
''Storming the gas complex would be easy for the Algerian military, but the outcome of such an operation would be disastrous," he warned.
In a statement carried on Mauritanian media, the Signed-in-Blood Battalion said it would hold the Algerian and French governments and the nations of the hostages responsible if its demands were not met, saying they must bring an end to the French intervention in Mali.
Militant groups have vowed to avenge the intervention, where French forces have been battling Islamists linked to AQIM for the past week.
Algeria has been allowing French aircraft to use its air space.
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