SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro's (PBR, PETR4.BR) total oil and gas reserves rose in 2011 due to the inclusion of recently discovered offshore fields, the company said late Wednesday. Petrobas, as the company is known, said its year-end 2011 oil and natural gas reserves rose 1% to 12.87 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or BOE, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission criteria. "During 2011, 1.014 billion BOE were incorporated into Proved Reserves and 889 million BOE were produced, resulting in an increase of 0.125 billion BOE in relation to 2010 reserves (12.748 billion BOE)," the company said. Reserves located in Brazil represent 95% of the total, or 12.25 billion BOE, while international reserves total 617 million BOE. The SEC requires oil companies to have firm sales contracts in place for new fields to be classified as reserves. Petrobas said its reserve replacement index was 114% under SEC criteria. Petrobas said its reserves rose 2.7% in 2011 under the criteria set by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, climbing to 15.70 billion BOE at year-end, up from 15.28 billion BOE the previous year. International reserves totaled 706 million BOE under SPE criteria, while the company's reserve-replacement index was 104%, it said. -By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-3544-7071; rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com

Source