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CAIRO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Egypt paid $2.1 billion of itsdebt to foreign energy companies, Oil Minister Sherif Ismailsaid on Wednesday, a move that could improve the investmentclimate and ease the country's worst energy crisis in decades.
The payment was the third batch to energy firms in the pastyear, though the government still owes $3.1 billion, Ismail saidin a statement.
The statement did not identify the amounts specificcompanies would receive, but the foreign firms owed money by theEgyptian government include British majors BP and BG, the UAE'sDana Gas, and Italy's Eni.
Egypt has delayed payments to oil and gas firms as itseconomy has been hammered by almost four years of instabilitysince a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Arrears began to accumulate before the revolt, but worseningstate finances saw the debts mount to billions of dollars whilethe government diverted gas earmarked for export to meetdomestic demand.
Mounting debt has hampered investment in the energy sector,though recent moves by the government to address the issue hasbegun to improve energy firms' confidence in Egypt.
Egypt made payments of $1.5 billion in December 2013, and$1.4 billion in October 2014 and said in November that itintends to repay all its debt within six months.
British oil major BP has announced a $12 billion investmentin Egypt over the next five years and the president of BG Egyptsaid he was confident the government was doing its best toimprove investment prospects. (Reporting by Shadi Bushra; editing by Michael Georgy)