Egypt's outstanding arrears to foreign oil companies rose to $3 billion at the end of December 2015 from $2.7 billion at the end of October, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla told Reuters on Sunday.

"The arrears owed to foreign oil companies by Egypt reached around $3 billion at the end of December," El Molla said.

The ministry had said in September that Egypt aimed to reduce the arrears owed to foreign oil companies to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015 and to pay them off completely by the end of 2016.  - Reuters