The government has been arguing the positives of the deal with Shanghai Electric Power - including their €320 million investment in Malta's energy sector - since March, but Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has still not signed a binding agreement with the company.

In media reports last week, Dr Mizzi said that an agreement with the energy company is close, with the government anticipating the signing of the contract by the end of the year, and that an announcement will be made shortly.

At the March signing, Dr Mizzi said that the idea was to conclude the process by September and take the final agreement to Parliament. September has passed and recently, according to media reports, the Energy Minister has said that discussions are still ongoing. According to the reports, he also said that this was the single, largest foreign direct investment in Malta.

The whole brouhaha began last March, when the government and the energy company signed what was called a 'Heads of Terms Agreement'. At the time, Dr Mizzi said that "Shanghai Electric Power will carry its weight and government guarantees committed for the state corporation will reduce drastically. At the end, the government will be carrying around €200 million in debts".

A Heads of Terms Agreement is defined as a non-binding document outlining the main issues relevant to a tentative partnership agreement. Heads of agreement represents the first step on the path to a full legally-binding agreement or contract and serves as a guideline for the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in a potential partnership before any binding documents are drawn up.

Over the past year, the Opposition has been requesting government to table the contract with Shanghai Electric Power - the one that promises 33 per cent of Enemalta to the company as well as the BWSC plant, in return for cold, hard cash - in Parliament.

The government has long refused to publish the contract, resulting in ever-increasing speculation. Earlier this month, however, one thing became clear: technically, the contract with Shanghai Electric Power does not exist.

Now this could perhaps be partially the media's fault, due to its having run with the story too fast, which could have led to a portion of the population believing that the agreement was further along than it actually was. However, it must be noted that, on the Department of Information website, no press release is listed 11 on March in respect of the press conference announcing the agreement when, as a rule, press releases are published to ensure that no mistakes have been made.

During Parliamentary debates, particularly during the switch from Enemalta to a Public Liability Company, the Opposition frequently asked for the contract to be tabled in Parliament, but this was not done. This is a further indication of the confusion that currently surrounds the whole issue.

The government has said more than once that it is saving Enemalta, yet the contract, or some other legally binding document such as a promise of sale, has yet to be signed -which means everything is still up in the air.

According to the government, Shanghai Electric Power is meant to be investing a total of of €320 million in Malta's energy sector: €100 in equity shareholding, €150 to become the majority stakeholders in the BWSC plant and €70 to convert the BWSC plant to run on gas. There is also the question of Enemalta's debt, should the deal fall through, as well as the possibility of changing the BWSC plant to run on gas.

There is also the question of what would happen to Enemalta plc if the proposed agreement between Shanghai Electric Power and the government fails to materialise?

Dr Mizzi has said that the power station project has been delayed because the engineering talks phase with Shanghai Electric Power regarding the conversion of the BWSC plant to gas, are taking longer than anticipated. He explained that a new timeframe will be issued at the end of November which means that the station will not be constructed by the previous deadline of March 2015. If the two are indeed interlinked, and no binding agreement is signed with Shanghai Electric Power, then this could result in further delays, although Dr Mizzi has said that the new timeframes will be announced in November.

Back in 2007, the government initiated the privatisation process of the Petroleum Division and negotiations with a company called B.B. Energy were underway at the time.

In 2011, media reports said that negotiations between the government and B.B. Energy were in the final stages and the General Workers Union at the time was up in arms, arguing that it had not been informed of negotiations.

The question remained as to whether there had been any official agreement regarding the transaction by the energy company. It would appear that, no, there had not. Contacted by this newsroom, the government said: "The privatisation process initiated in 2007 was not concluded. The process is now over."