We left off some dominant state oil, utilities and tobacco companies that we thought were too secure in their home markets to be kept on their toes, or that, like Singapore Telecom and China Life Insurance, just missed scoring high enough.

FORBES: Missing in Action

Iran lashed back Wednesday, cutting off crude oil exports to Germany, state-run Press TV reported.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Already this year, America has fought off a bid by China's state-owned oil company for Unocal, a mid-sized American oil firm.

ECONOMIST: The dragon and the eagle try to get along | The

State Oil Industry's Future Sets off Tussle in Mexico.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: China displaces the U.S. at Ecuador's Manta Base

Despite the oil money that Rio gets from the wells off its coastline, the state has often been in the red.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

In Texas, the birthplace of the shale-gas revolution, there is currently a stand-off between the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas production.

WSJ: Daniel Yergin on the Shale Gas Revolution: Stepping on the Gas

Oil prices spiked in 2006, when an oil spill in a BP-operated Alaskan field briefly threatened to cut off half of the state's production for months.

WSJ: Drilling Rules Hit Alaska Pipeline

Norway is salting away a big chunk of its oil income in a State Petroleum Fund to help pay the pensions of its ageing population when oil and gas production tails off.

ECONOMIST: Remodelling Scandinavia