Buyers' market for oil companies in Davos

* Resource nationalism easing, say oil bosses

* Countries compete for capital to develop resources

* Oil majors get bigger bargaining power

* Majors on capital diet, new players get bigger chances

By Dmitry Zhdannikov

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Oil executivesnormally travel the world to win big contracts - but rarely dogovernment officials travel the other way.

This week in Davos, however, some of the most powerful oilCEOs gathered on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum andwere presented with an embarrassment of riches.

While the appearance of Iran's new president and oilminister in front of the heads of BP, ENI, Total and Lukoil made most headlines, theexecutives also heard presentations by officials from Canada,Mozambique and Mexico.

The head of BP Bob Dudley drew a simple conclusion:"It just shows how big the shifts are in the industry."

Oil prices peaked at $147 a barrel in 2008 amid growingfears that the world was running out of oil. Five years on, oilis considered plentiful thanks to the U.S. shale oil revolutionand the discovery of massive oil and gas fields elsewhere.

Some executives are beginning to talk about an easing ofresource nationalism, one of the hottest topics in the industryover the past decade as countries such as Russia and Kazakhstanbecame increasingly assertive about developing their reservesthemselves.

"Today a number of countries which have huge reserves of oiland gas begin to say that they need investments to developthem," said the head of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov.

"It is not only Iran. It is Mexico, East Africa. We haveseen a period of national protectionism when unfortunately wecould not access some countries because it was all run bynational companies. Today the situation changes," he said.

CAPITAL DIET

Privately-held Lukoil, which is limited in accessing giantfields in its home base Russia, this week signed a memorandum tostudy projects in Mexico with state energy company Pemex as thecountry opens up its energy sector to boost production.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto last month signed abill into law that ended the country's 75-year-old oil and gasmonopoly.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called on oil companies inDavos to return to Iran as part of Tehran's move for arapprochement with the West. Meanwhile, Canada and Mozambiqueare tapping some of the world's biggest oil and gas fields.

For oil majors, that means one thing: Their bargaining poweris as great as ever as a huge number of large projects competefor their money.

"I made it clear some time ago I'm not going back to Iranunder old contract terms even if all sanctions are lifted," saidthe chief executive of ENI Paolo Scaroni.

The stiff competition between projects comes as oil majorsslash their budgets in response to shareholders' calls on themto stop overspending and increase dividend payouts.

"We are all on a capital diet right now, and that means thatsome of these projects won't be developed unless terms areattractive," the CEO of one oil major said. That presents anopportunity for players who in the old days would always loseout to majors.

"Majors will no longer be developing the lion's share of bigprojects in the world. But it doesn't necessarily mean they willremain undeveloped. I expect national oil companies like China'sCNPC and even mid-sized independents to step in and fill thespace," another oil executive said.