Oil prospects

The following is taken from http://www.pancon.com.au/reports/quart/300906.pdf, Pancontinental's official Website.

"The Joint Venture continues to await approval from the Maltese government to recommence the planned seismic survey to be carried out by Anadarko as part of its farm-in earning obligations. Negotiations on the final, detailed terms of any future PSC areas have recommenced in anticipation of a resolution of those issues.

"The seismic program to be carried out by Anadarko under the Participation Agreement (Farmout Agreement) will determine the viability of a number of prospects including the very large Chianti and Limoncello Prospects delineated in 2004 by the Joint Venture. These prospects have a large speculative reserve potential, with the Chianti and the Limoncello prospects having world-class, multi hundred-million barrel recoverable oil potential, based on current mapping and representative reservoir parameters from neighbouring commercial fields. The prospects are in uncontested Maltese waters and in the same geological province as world-class oil and gas fields offshore Libya and Tunisia."

What exactly is the government waiting for?