International oil companies (IOCs) working in Iraqi Kurdistan will now receive monthly payments beginning September for the crude they produce and export, for the first time since December, announced the Kurdistan Regional Government on Monday.

“The KRG…recognizes the patience of the producing [companies], which, despite receiving hardly any payments for their crude oil production since May 2014, have maintained operations and have continued to invest to support Kurdistan’s crude oil export,” the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources said in a statement, relayed by the Wall Street Journal.

Genel Energy PLC, Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. and Norway’s DNO AS A all welcomed these remarks. Gulf Keystone Chief Executive Jón Ferrier said this was “a further important step toward the establishment of a regular payment cycle.” Genel alone was owed $378 million at the end of June.

According to Reuters this move will also help the KRG to continue making its own oil sales independently of the Iraqi state which has been cutting its Kurdish allocations since mid-June.