Egypt payments to energy firms $9.4 bln as of end-March: ministry

Egypt's Oil Minister Sherif Ismail attends the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 14, 2015. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt paid foreign energy firms $9.369 billion in accumulated arrears in the nine months to March 31, an oil ministry spokesman told Reuters on Thursday. The government still owed foreign oil and gas companies $3.285 billion as of the end of March, the spokesman said.