About 50 percent of China's oil and natural gas supply is expected to rely on foreign resources by 2020 due to the big gap between domestic demand and production, an expert said Tuesday.

China is estimated to consume 450 million tons of crude oil and 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2020, and half of the supply would depend on imports, said Wang Gongli, president with China Oil and Natural Gas Designing Institute.

China produced 175 million tons of crude oil in 2004, and the maximal annual output could not exceed 200 million tons in the future, Wang said at an energy forum of the ongoing 8th China Beijing International High-tech Expo.

According to Wang, China now produces 40.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, and the gap between domestic demand and supply would reach 8 billion cubic meters by 2020.

Source: Xinhua