Energy Sector Roundup: Oil hits new high above $126

"I'm not warning them, I'm just being frank," Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach said. "I'm just saying that we have options and will continue to pursue options."

Stelmach said he has told U.S. officials that Alberta will no longer allow itself to depend primarily on the American market for exports.

Industry officials estimate Canada's oil sands, a tar-like bitumen that is extracted using mining techniques, could yield up to 175 billion barrels of oil.

Venezuela says oil reserves grew 30 percent

Venezuela's proven crude oil reserves have increased by 30 percent, the country's oil minister told a meeting of South American energy ministers.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Venezuela now has 130 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. After Canada's massive reserves of harder-to-process oil sands, that is the biggest reserve outside the Middle East.

Ramirez said Venezuela added 30 billion barrels to its total last month, and plans to quantify additional heavy crude deposits in the country's Orinoco River basin.

--Compiled by AP Business Writer Adam Schreck