Washington (Platts)--30Oct2009/347 am EDT/747 GMT

US proved natural gas reserves increased by 7 Tcf, or 3%, in 2008 to reach a record high, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

Discoveries of 29.5 Tcf of natural gas last year represent the sixth consecutive yearly increase and the highest annual level since EIA started reporting them in 1977, the agency said.

The agency said US proved gas reserves at the end of 2008 stood at 244.7 Tcf, up from 237.7 Tcf a year ago.

"This year's report underscores for a second year the technological shift in domestic exploration and production from conventional reserves to unconventional shales," EIA Administrator Richard Newell said in a statement. "Given the drop in the price of natural gas during 2008, growth in proved reserves is remarkable."

EIA said reserves from shale reservoirs grew 51% in 2008 over the previous year and now account for 13% of the total proved reserves of dry natural gas, according to the report.

In contrast, US crude oil proved reserves declined 10.3% to 19.1 billion barrels in 2008 from 21.3 billion barrels at the end of 2007, despite a third year of increased discoveries, EIA said. Net negative revisions were about the same as volume produced during the year and nearly 1.5 times as much as was discovered, the agency said.

--Meghan Gordon, meghan_gordon@platts.com