Egypt has paid about $5 billion in overdue bills to ‍foreign oil ‍and gas partners and aims ​to bring remaining arrears down to $1.2 billion by June ⁠2026, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said.

Arrears stood at $6.1 billion ⁠on June ‌30, 2024, he said in a statement, adding the government was also ⁠meeting the partners' monthly invoices.

A foreign currency shortage forced Egypt to delay payments to international oil companies operating in Egypt, slowing investment ⁠and contributing to a ​drop in gas output that forced it to rely heavily ‍on imports from 2022, whether from neighbouring Israel or ​costly LNG cargoes.

But following a giant $35 billion deal in 2024 with the United Arab Emirates for the rights to develop a prime stretch of Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, Egypt started paying back oil companies.

Egypt produced 3,635 million cubic meters of gas in October last year, up slightly from ⁠3,525 million cubic meters in September ‌but down from 3,851 million cubic meters in October 2024, according to the ‌Joint Organizations ⁠Data Initiative.

(Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah, writing by ⁠Mohamed Ezz Editing by Tomasz Janowski)