Egypt plans to repay its $3.1 billion debt to international energy companies operating in the country by mid-2016, almost a year later than initially planned, the country’s oil minister said. “We have already reduced the debt from $6.3 billion at the start of 2013 to $3.1 billion at the end of last year,” Oil Minister Sherif Ismail told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. “We have no certain timetable for the next payments but we plan to pay back the entire amount by mid next year.” Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the turmoil that ensued, Egypt has struggled to pay foreign energy companies that provide oil and gas for its domestic market, including: BP PLC (BP), Apache Corp. (APA), BG Group (BG.LN) and Dana Gas PJSC (DANA.AD), an energy company based in the United Arab Emirates. Egyptian officials hope the […]