
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 15, 1993                   TAG: 9307150118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL TOOK A JUMP THIS YEAR

American dependence on imported oil jumped by 9.2 percent in the last six months as domestic production plunged to the lowest level in 35 years, returning the country to the consumption patterns of the early 1980s, when imports were surging.

The dependence on currently cheap and plentiful foreign oil is expected to grow even more as oil companies continue to cut back on drilling in increasingly exhausted domestic fields while being prevented for environmental reasons from drilling in offshore coastal areas.

The price of oil plunged Wednesday to $17.49 a barrel, its lowest close in three years.

The expense of production will continue to make the United States more dependent on imported oil, which accounted for 48.2 percent of domestic deliveries over the six-month period, according to figures released Wednesday by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group.

by CNB