MILAN (Reuters) – Egypt launched the world’s biggest tender for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Sunday as officials from top trading houses and oil majors converged on Cairo – undeterred by tough new rules forcing them to wait even longer to get paid.

After months of speculation and delay, state-run Egypt Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) released the tender documents on Sunday in a bid to secure 96 LNG shipments over 2017-2018, participants in the tender told Reuters.

An additional 12 optional cargoes were included in the tender, which EGAS may decide not to award, they said.

It is the biggest mid-term LNG buy tender ever issued, trade sources said.

The payment period in which suppliers can expect to get paid has been extended from 90 days after the date of delivery to between 120 and 180 days, reflecting Egypt’s increasingly tight U.S. dollar reserves, trade sources said.

(Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by Susan Fenton)