Egypt is expecting to cut the USD3.5bn it owes to international oil companies by around half in coming weeks, Petroleum Minister, Tarek Al Molla, said on Wednesday. “We have made a lot of progress on paying off arrears," he said. The Minister also said he expected to finalise an agreement to import crude oil directly from Iraq in a month at the most. “We will import c1mn barrels a month," he said, adding that Egypt would be oil and gas self-sufficient by the end of 2018. "Starting from 2019 and beyond we can start talking about exporting".