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UPDATE 2-U.S. crude, natgas reserves rise to record in 2011 -EIA

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Thu Aug 1, 2013 10:04am EDT

(Adds detail on regional increases)

WASHINGTON Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. energy companies added the most proved crude oil reserves in 2011 since at least 1977 as they expanded the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques, and total proved natural gas reserves shot to a record high, the Department of Energy's statistics arm said on Thursday.

Drilling into shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere yielded record output of oil and gas in what has become an energy boom in the United States.

Proved reserves of crude oil including condensate rose 15 percent, or 3.8 billion barrels, in 2011 while natural gas reserves rose 9.8 percent, or 31.2 trillion cubic feet (tcf), the Energy Information Administration said.

Crude oil and condensate reserves rose to 29 billion barrels while wet natural gas reserves rose to a record high of 348.8 tcf, it said.

Reserves of crude oil alone rose by 3.3 billion barrels to 26.5 billion barrels. It was the second-largest one-year increase in reserves since 1970, when Alaska's giant Prudhoe Bay was sanctioned for development. Total reserves are now the highest since 1988, according to the data.

The natural gas reserves' rise of 31.2 tcf, was lower than the 33.8 tcf added in 2010 as producers cut back on drilling due to low prices, but it was only the second year that natural gas net reserves additions surpassed 30 tcf since the EIA began keeping records in 1977.

Proved reserves are an estimate of recoverable energy resources under existing economic and operating conditions.

Texas had the largest increase in proved oil and condensate reserves, rising 1.8 billion barrels, thanks to drilling in its tight oil plays. North Dakota added 771 million barrels, the second largest increase, mainly due to activity in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin.

The increase in 2011 estimates follows a record rise in 2010 when oil and gas reserves rose by the greatest amount since the EIA began recording the data in 1977. It also shows the huge impact that hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in shale rock formations has had on U.S. energy output.

Proved reserves of natural gas in 2010 had hit 317.6 tcf, up nearly 12 percent compared with the 283.9 tcf recorded a year earlier, as drillers landed find after find in rich areas like the Marcellus shale in the Northeast and various plays in Texas and elsewhere.

(For the entire EIA report, see: here) (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Edward McAllister in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski)

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