Foreign energy companies snubbed Iraq on Tuesday by rejecting all but one deal to develop the country’s oil and gas sector, in what had been the first such opportunity in nearly four decades.

Bidding descended into near farce in Baghdad when Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani asked companies to resubmit their bids after deals were rejected by Chinese, American, Italian, British, Dutch and South Korean energy firms.

The service contracts offered by Baghdad were based on companies accepting a fixed fee per barrel of oil extracted from six fields offered, rather than an equity stake.

Doubts had been raised by foreign companies in the run-up to the bidding about having to partner with Iraqi state-owned firms and the requirement to share management of the fields, despite fully financing their development. British energy giant BP and China’s CNPC International Ltd were the only bid winners, accepting a two dollars per barrel deal to work in the giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq, which has known reserves of 17.7 billion barrels.

However, after a day of bidding there were no successful tenders for the remaining five oil fields due to a gulf in what foreign firms wanted and what the government was willing to pay.

China’s CNOOC and Sinopec wanted 25.40 dollars per barrel extracted from the Maysan field in southern Iraq but the government offered them only 2.30 dpb.

The US energy giant ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, asked for 26.70 dollars per barrel to work in the Bai Hassan oil field but the government offered 4.0 dpb.