Egypt has made further back payments to several foreign oil operators this month, following a long-delayed partial payment made in December that was a welcome tonic to the country's cash-strapped upstream sector. Two unnamed operators confirmed receiving January payments, but remain skeptical about the future promptness of Egyptian authorities. "Last month's payment was great. And it looks like they want to steady the ship after an awful year. But it is too early to say whether this means we are going to get back to regular contractual payment levels,” notes one foreign operator. In December, operators received around a quarter of the $6 billion owed to them, the majority of it paid in US dollars (IOD Dec.26'13).
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