Cairo looks to increase upstream efforts and ease IOC pain

With foreign oil companies owed about $6 billion, Egypt's interim, military-backed government must make tough choices as it looks to keep production and investment flowing

For a nation that has experienced a series of damaging political ruptures, unprecedented levels of street violence, a cataclysmic fall-off in tourism and the rapid depletion of its foreign exchange reserves, Egypt isn't doing too badly. Since the military leadership ousted the elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi in early July, Cairo has been inundated with promises of financial support from wealthy Gulf states eager to throw hard cash to bolster the new administration formed by General Abdul al-Sisi, the Egyptian Armed Forces chief. Commitments of more than $12 billion have come from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, in a mix of cash, central bank deposits an