BAGHDAD - The first bidding in more than 30 years for development rights to some of Iraq's oil fields stumbled Tuesday, with only one field being awarded as major foreign firms demanded better terms from a government in dire need of crude revenues.

About half of the eight oil and gas fields drew only one offer - a lackluster showing for a government that had expected Western majors to bid aggressively for some of the world's largest crude reserves. The main stumbling block was price, with the companies asking for more money than Iraq was willing to pay for the crude they produced.

"It's disastrous," said Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst with London-based IHS Global Insight. "It puts Iraq back on square one."

The televised event - a year in the making - coincided with the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities with government troops taking over security. But that development, hailed by Iraqis as a sovereignty milestone, likely served to only further raise questions among oil companies monitoring events around the country before committing to big projects.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at the start of the day's ceremony that the government would "offer security protection, offer all guarantees for their investments and offer all the facilities needed to ensure the success of this process."

But disputes over how much the companies would get for producing over a minimum output target cast a pall on a process in which roughly 43 billion of Iraq's 115 billion in crude reserves was on offer.

Under the 20-year service contracts on offer, the companies would be paid a per barrel fee for any crude they produce in excess of a minimum production target. But the price requested by all the companies was at least twice - and in one case almost 10 times - higher than what the oil ministry was willing to pay.

Two oil executives from different companies at the auction complained that Iraq was offering too little money given the prevailing security risks and political uncertainty. They also complained that they were not given enough time to revise their bids - sometimes as little as 15 minutes. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The first field on offer was the day's sole success story, but also underlined the wildly differing expectations of the government and companies.

Two consortiums headed by British giant BP and American Exxon Mobil submitted offers for the Rumaila oil field - the largest prize on offer with 17.8 billion barrels in crude reserves.