Chevron reports overall rise in reserves in 2009

* Overall reserves up 1 pct at 11.3 bln barrels

* Reserves content confirms move toward more natural gas

SAN FRANCISCO Feb 25 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said on Thursday its overall oil and gas reserves grew 1 percent in 2009, with growth in its consolidated operations offsetting a decline for its affiliates.

The second-largest U.S. oil and gas company said in a regulatory filing that its consolidated companies saw net proved reserves grow 5 percent to 8.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, while affiliates reported an 8 percent decline to just over 3 billion barrels.

The filing also showed a continuation of the trend of more natural gas production for Chevron, with liquid reserves falling to 62 percent of overall reserves from 66 percent a year before.

Larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) added 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its proved reserves in 2009, or 133 percent of production for the year. [ID:nN16128784]

Among Chevron's big projects, the company said it would make final investment decisions on two projects in the Gulf of Mexico, Jack/St Malo and the second phase of Tahiti, later this year, with Jack/St Malo's start-up expected in 2014.

First oil is expected from another Gulf of Mexico project, Perdido, in the first half of 2010, Chevron said.

In Africa, the Moho-Bilondo deepwater development in Congo will hit maximum production of 90,000 BOE per day in the third quarter, while the Lucapa project in Angola will enter front-end engineering and design in the fourth quarter.

The company also put an $8.4 billion price tag on Nigeria's Usan deepwater development, a project in which Chevron owns 30 percent that is due to start up in 2012 and produce as much as 180,000 barrels per day within a year. (Reporting by Braden Reddall; editing by Carol Bishopric)