March 10, 2008 at 10:17 AM EDT

CALGARY — — Canadian Oil Sands Trust [COS.UN-T] said recoverable resources at the Syncrude oil sands project amounted to 12.7 billion barrels, up from prior estimate of 9 billion.

The increase in estimated recoverable resources “reflects the reporting of a new category, known as prospective resources, as well as mine pit design criteria that expand the pit sizes in some areas, consistent with the current business environment,” the company said

Proved plus probable reserves were 4.9 billion barrels, largely unchanged from 5 billion barrels at the end of 2006.

“While Syncrude’s reserves remain virtually unchanged, the increase to resource base extends the resource life and should result in Syncrude’s owners reassessing expansion plans, including a potential of reaching productive capacity beyond the currently planned 500,000 barrels per day,” said Canadian Oil Sands CEO Marcel Coutu.

“Syncrude will continue to better define the resources on its existing leases over the next few years through further drilling and evaluation work.”

Syncrude, the world’s largest oilsands producer, is jointly owned by Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Imperial Oil Ltd. [IMO-T], Petro-Canada [PCA-T], ConocoPhillips [COP-N], Nexen Inc. [NXY-T] and others.

It has a production capacity of 350,000 barrels of oil per day.

Canadian Oil Sands owns a 36.74 per cent working interest in the project.

On the TSX Monday, Canadian Oil Sands units were trading down 83 cents, or almost two per cent, at $42.46.

Tags: energy investments

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