The problems of small independent firms in Egypt pre-dated the late-2014 oil price crash. Indeed the reason the crash hit so many of them so hard is that their revenue in Egypt (as in monies actually received rather than that due) had already collapsed due to chronic payment delays on behalf of Egyptian state firm EGPC (which typically markets crude on behalf of smaller producers).
Egypt has always had a reputation as a tardy payer. But receivables to IOCs active in the country soared in the aftermath of the January 2011 revolution. From $3bn at the start of 2011 they leapt to $8bn in early 2012 and remained at $6.3bn as recently as September 2014. Though EGPC made substantial inroads after this, by then collapsing oil prices had come in as a sucker punch. (CONTINUED - 472 WORDS)
