Iraq's Oil Ministry on Tuesday ended its first auction of major oil and gas field contracts since the US invasion after sealing just one deal, with a BP-led group for its biggest field, Rumaila, an official said.

The ministry received seven revised bids from oil companies and sent them to the cabinet for consideration without making them public, an official close to the process said.

The auction of deals in six oilfields and two gas fields revealed a deep gulf between the money that Baghdad, desperate for cash to rebuild after six years of war, was willing to pay, and the fees that international oil firms wanted.-Reuters