(Ecofin Agency) - In August Egypt paid foreign oil companies $600 million in arrears and still owes them $2.9 billion, according to the petroleum minister. Sherif Ismail (photo) told the Cairo post that the country aims to lower the amount of arrears it owes foreign oil companies to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015.

Delays in payments to foreign companies had discouraged investment in Egypt’s economy, beaten by power cuts, attacks by militants and political turmoil caused by a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

However Egypt’s oil and gas sector had received a boost last month when Italian energy group Eni said it had discovered the largest known gas field in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast, predicting that the find could help meet the country’s gas needs for decades to come.

Egypt, who was once gas exporter to Israel and other countries, has become a net energy importer over the last few years.

Meanwhile, four ports in Suez governorate has been closed due to bad weather and a sandstorm that covered Egypt today.

Red Sea Port Authority Spokesperson Abdel Rahim Mustafa announced that the closed ports are Ain Sokhna for the transfer of containers, Adabia for goods transfer, Zeiteyat for petroleum product transfer, and the Port Tawfik for passengers.