HOUSTON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by 14 to 1,045 this week, or 99 more than that this time last year, according to the weekly data released by the Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields fell by 15 to 847 this week, and more than half of them were located in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of gas drilling rigs grew by one to 198 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by 13 to 1,025. The number of inland waters drilling rigs stayed level at one rig, while the number of offshore drilling rigs fell by one to 19.
The number of directional drilling rigs decreased by two to 57, the number of horizontal drilling rigs fell by seven to 925, while the number of vertical drilling rigs decreased by five to 63.
None of the U.S. states had an increase in the active drilling rig counts. The U.S. state of Alaska and Oklahoma led the decrease with four rigs. Texas decreased by three rigs to 514.
U.S. oil prices rose on Friday. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery rose 1.47 U.S. dollars to settle at 55.26 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March contract rose 0.89 dollar to close at 62.79 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
