UPDATE 1-Exxon Mobil adds 1.5 bln barrels to reserves

NEW YORK Feb 16 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) said on Monday that it added 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2008, or 103 percent of its production for the year.

The largest U.S. oil company said that excluding the impact of asset sales, reserves additions replaced 110 percent of production in the year. It said these additions assume a long-term pricing basis, rather than single-day, year-end pricing.

Oil and gas companies are generally expected to replace more than 100 percent of their annual production as a sign of growth, according to industry analysts.

Exxon said the reserve additions reflected both new developments with significant funding commitments and revisions and extensions of existing fields from drilling, studies and analysis of reservoir performance.

Reserves additions from the Kearl Phase 1 oil sands project in Canada totaled 1.1 billion oil-equivalent barrels, Exxon said.

It said proved additions were also made in the United States, Norway, Nigeria, Angola and Australia.

Asset sales in 2008 reduced proved reserves by 0.1 billion oil-equivalent barrels, the Irving, Texas-based company said. (Reporting by Martha Graybow, editing by Matthew Lewis)