BAGHDAD - Iraq's oil ministry said on Saturday that it was still in talks with U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil over a major deal to improve the country's southern oil infrastructure.

A deal with Britain's BP and Italy's Eni was over the building of two seabed oil pipelines for Iraq's southern exports through the Gulf, and was not part of the $53 billion 30-year southern mega-project, the ministry said.

The lack of an agreement with Exxon so far did not mean negotiations were over or that Exxon has been excluded from the project, it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; editing by John Stonestreet) ((ahmed.aboulenein@tr.com; +964 790 191 7021; Reuters Messaging: ahmed.aboulenein.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))