Despite the allure of big untapped fields, foreign companies have been wary about entering Russia.
In exchange, BASF, through its Wintershall subsidiary, will gain nearly 25percentt in a large Siberian natural gas field, the Yuzhno-Russkoye deposit, one of the largest untapped fields.
The energy rule comes at a time when American companies are looking to take advanced drilling technologies, initially used to develop domestic shale oil and gas fields, to untapped fields in places like China and Argentina.
As The Times reported Monday, "At a time of spiraling oil prices, the no-bid contracts, in a country with some of the world's largest untapped fields and potential for vast profits, are a rare prize to the industry".
Once Iraqi oil pumps are back to speed, and the country's untapped fields are probed, it could become an even greater force within OPEC and the world oil markets.
Some analysts noted that the new project focused on the associate gas that is abundant in the southern oil fields, in areas that are mostly Shiite, while untapped gas fields in the predominantly Sunni western desert remain unexplored.
It still has untapped gas fields, but these have traditionally been mined by foreign companies.
American officials said Mr. Sadr's growing influence in Maysan — an underdeveloped swath of tomato farms, marshes and untapped oil fields — set the stage for the recent spike in attacks.
The spread of American shale-drilling technology and skill to developing countries promises to raise oil production around the world, particularly in non-OPEC countries with large untapped shale fields like Mexico, Argentina, China, Australia and Russia.
But it also holds what is believed to be the nation's largest untapped oil fields, perhaps holding up to 10 billion barrels, which would be second only to those of Alaska's North Slope.
