(Adds quotes, details on oilfields)
By Rania El Gamal
VIENNA, June 9 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil minister on Mondaycondemned the export of pipeline crude from Iraqi Kurdistan andthreatened the region and Turkey, its point of export, withsevere measures.
"What happened in my view was the biggest mistake that hasbeen made by the Kurds and the Turks...and the Iraqi governmentwill take severe measures," Abdul Kareem Luaibi told a newsbriefing.
He repeated that Baghdad would sue the Turkish governmentand Turkish pipeline state owned operator Botas for facilitatingthe sale of crude from the Kurdish region without the centralgovernment's consent. The Iraqi government was in the processinforming the United Nations about Ankara's role in theshipment, he added.
"We have no choice but to go to arbitration and they(Turkish government) have been informed," Luaibi said.
The semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region has not beenexporting any crude through the Baghdad-controlled Iraq-Turkeypipeline since the end of 2012.
The oil minister said he expects production this year toaverage 3.7 million barrels per day without any output from theKurdish region. Exports would average 3 million bpd in 2014, headded.
Baghdad has signed a series of deals to develop its giantsouthern oilfields with major oil companies - including BP which is leading the project at Rumaila, ExxonMobil is in charge of West Qurna 1, while Royal Dutch Shell is operating Majnoon.
Luaibi said he expected finalising amendements to theexisiting contracts "within days" to lower the previouslyestimated output capacity from 9 million bpd to 8.4 million bpdafter 2018 and extending the life of the deals beyond 20 years.
(Additional reporting by Peg Mackey, editing by William Hardy)
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