HOUSTON, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States in the week ending Nov. 16 increased by one to 1,082, statistics released by Baker Hughes on Friday showed.
The number was 167 more than in the same period last year.
The latest count of land drilling rigs and offshore drilling rigs both increased by one from the previous week, while the number of inland waters rigs fell by one.
The number of directional drilling rigs decreased by three to 71 rigs. The number of horizontal drilling rigs increased by four to 939 rigs, and the number of vertical drilling rigs stayed level at 72.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the U.S. state of Texas led the gain with an increase of three to 535 rigs. The number for Oklahoma decreased the most by two to 146 rigs.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields increased by two to 888 rigs in the week, and more than half of the oil rigs were located in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of rigs drilling for gas fell by one to 194 rigs this week.
U.S. oil prices closed flat Friday as earlier gains from expected cut of production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its partners were pared in the second half of the session.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery closed flat and settled at 56.46 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, Brent crude for January delivery picked up 0.14 dollar to close at 66.76 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
