Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- China will rely on oil for more than half of its energy by 2010, when net imports will rise to between 180 million tons and 200 million tons of oil a year, a Chinese official said.

``China should import more energy - that's the picture for oil and gas,'' Gao Shixian, director of energy economics and development strategy at China's National Development and Reform Commission, said at a conference in London today. ``Energy diversification is a priority for China.''

The world's second-largest oil consumer after the U.S., China relies on coal for two-third's of its energy. Rapid growth in Chinese demand helped send oil prices to record levels last year.

By 2010, oil will account for between 51.4 percent and 52.6 percent of China's energy needs, up from 29.1 percent in 2000, Shixian said at an ``IP Week'' conference organized by the U.K.'s Energy Institute. In 2010, the country's oil demand will probably be between 350 million tons and 380 million tons.

Last year, China's net import of oil was more than 100 million tons, of which about half came from the Middle East.

China's natural gas consumption is rising at an even faster pace and the country is projected to have net gas imports of between 20 billion cubic meters and 25 billion cubic meters in 2010, from zero imports in 2000.

By 2010, natural gas will account for 20 percent of the country's energy needs, as the percentage share for coal declines. The country may import more gas in the form of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as industrial demand grows, Shixian said.

China paid $1 billion more for oil and gas last year because of higher prices, he said. The country has about 40 million private cars, he said, a low figure when compared with developed nations considering that China has about 1.3 billion people.

China's demand is unlikely to rise as fast in 2005 as in 2004, Adam Sieminski, global oil strategist at Deutsche Bank AG, said at the conference.

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Stephen Voss in London sev@bloomberg.net

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Tim Coulter at tcoulter@bloomberg.net