HOUSTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by four to 1,071 this week, or 141 more than that this time last year, showed weekly data released by Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of land drilling rigs fell by five to 1,045 rigs. The number of inland waters drilling rigs increased by one to three rigs, while the number of offshore drilling rigs stayed level at 23 rigs.
The number of directional drilling rigs increased by one to 73 rigs. The number of horizontal drilling rigs decreased by six to 927 rigs, and the number of vertical drilling rigs grew by one to 71 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the U.S. state of Wyoming led the gain with increasing by five to 35 rigs. Texas increased by three to 532 rigs.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields decreased by four to 873 rigs this 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 remained same at 198 rigs this week.
U.S. oil prices dropped on Friday. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery fell 1.38 U.S. dollars to settle at 51.2 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
