CHINA, the world's biggest energy consumer after the US, will import 55 to 60 percent of the oil it needs by 2020, compared with 50 percent now.

Crude oil will account for about 20 percent of the nation's total energy consumption by the end of the decade, Wang Jiacheng, deputy director at the research unit at the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday.

He said China's demand for coal may rise to 3.12 billion metric tons by 2010.