Egypt pays $2.1bln to foreign energy firms, still owes $3.1 bln

Egypt paid $2.1 billion of its debt to foreign energy companies, Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said on Wednesday, a move that could improve the investment climate and ease the country's worst energy crisis in decades.

The payment was the third batch to energy firms in the past year, though the government still owes $3.1 billion, Ismail said in a statement.

The statement did not identify the amounts specific companies would receive, but the foreign firms owed money by the Egyptian government include British majors BP and BG, the UAE's Dana Gas, and Italy's Eni (NYSE: E - news) .

Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as its economy has been hammered by almost four years of instability since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak.