Oil sands lift Canada's crude reserves 33 pct-CAPP

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Canada's crude oil reserves grew 33 percent in 2006 due to companies booking resources as they developed new oil sands projects and expansions, the industry's main lobby group said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the country's natural gas reserves were relatively flat for the seventh straight year, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said.

Established minable oil sands reserves increased by 45 percent to 8.9 billion barrels last year as Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO) booked the resources at its C$7.8 billion ($8 billion) Horizon project in northeastern Alberta, CAPP said.

New projects and expansions boosted "in situ" or steam-driven production project reserves 90 percent to 4.7 billion barrels.

The established reserves represent just a fraction of Alberta's overall oil sands resources, which have been estimated as high as 174 billion barrels, second in size only to Saudi Arabia's conventional reserves.

The unconventional resources are the target of more than $100 billion worth of oil-industry investments, meaning more reserves will be recognized as established as new developments get closer to fruition.

Extending a long-term trend in Western Canada, conventional crude oil reserves slipped 5 percent to 3 billion barrels as new discoveries replaced just 60 percent of production.

Established reserves off Canada's East Coast declined 6.5 percent to 1.6 billion barrels as the region's three projects produced crude and no new developments started up.

Natural gas reserves increased marginally to 58.2 trillion cubic feet, CAPP said. Canada's gas reserves have been relatively flat for the past seven years.

New additions to established reserves replaced 104 percent of production in 2006, the association said.

Natural gas liquids reserves, including ethane, propane and butane, increased 5 percent to 800 million barrels. (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; Editing by Bernadette Baum)