BURLEY — Pacific Ethanol officials hope to restart their Burley ethanol plant in January.

Company officials at Pacific Ethanol Inc. say they are seeking permission from their lenders to restart the Burley ethanol plant — a plan that still has to be approved by a bankruptcy court.

“We’re expecting some good news,” said Pacific Ethanol Inc. Vice President Paul Koehler on Friday.

Last January, the company laid off 24 employees and in February suspended production at the plant. The company’s subsidiaries — which own four ethanol plants, three of which suspended production — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May.

Koehler said an upturn in the ethanol market prompted the decision to reopen the Burley plant, which will be the company’s only plant to reopen at this point.

The bankruptcy court will review plans to restart the plant at a Dec. 14 hearing and the company expects the lenders, who provide debtor-in-possession financing for the Burley plant, to support the plan.

Koehler said the plant will hire 35 to 40 employees, which would put it at full staff.

“We pretty much need that many people for the plant to be in operation,” Koehler said.

The plant’s management was kept intact but the company will hire plant operators, a maintenance crew, commodity managers and lab technicians, along with other positions.

“It is good news for the city of Burley,” said Burley Economic Development Director Doug Manning. “It means more people back to work and will bring a good, positive feeling for the new year and some positive attention to the area.”

Manning said Pacific has been calling former employees to try to rehire them, which would save on the cost to train new employees.

“Everybody at the city is looking forward to working with Pacific Ethanol again,” Manning said.

Koehler said when plants resume operation after shutting down there is always a bit of a ramp-up period. But he expects the plant to come up to capacity quickly.

“The people who took care of it during the shutdown did a really good job,” Koehler said. “The plant is ship-shape and ready to start.”

Koehler said the plant can produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year when running at full capacity.