WASHINGTON - A growing U.S. thirst for oil and natural gas will draw increasingly on foreign imports over the next 20 years, according to the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The EIA's "Annual Energy Outlook 2005" says that, by 2025, as much as 68 percent of the U.S. petroleum demand could depend on imported oil, up from 56 percent in 2003. At the same time, U.S. natural gas consumption is expected to increase by 9 trillion cubic feet, a 41 percent increase, of which 6.4 trillion cubic feet are expected to come from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). That will cause LNG imports to increase 16-fold from the 2003 level of 0.4 trillion cubic feet.