Last checked at 
(Adds detail and background)
CAIRO, July 11 (Reuters) - Egypt's arrears to foreign oilcompanies declined to $900 million at the end of June from $1.2billion a year ago, the petroleum minister said on Thursday,adding that the remaining amount would be paid soon.
Tarek el-Molla also told Reuters that total monthly paymentsby Egypt to foreign oil companies stood at $700 million.
Italy's ENI, BP, Royal Dutch Shelland Italian energy group Edison have dominated energyexploration work in Egypt in recent years.
Arrears to foreign oil companies piled up after the 2011uprising that forced long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak to stepdown, reaching $6.3 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
But they have been declining since 2014 as Egypt sought tobecome a regional energy hub.
Egypt owed foreign oil companies $2.4 billion in June 2017.
Molla said he hoped that the remaining arrears would be paidsoon, but gave no specific time.
Cairo has pledged not to accumulate more arrears, part ofits drive to draw new foreign investment to an energy sectorthat is attracting interest following several major gasdiscoveries.
(Reporting by Ahmed Ismail;Writing by Sami Aboudi;Editing by Edmund Blair and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
