HOUSTON, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by 11 to 1,027 this week but increased by 43 from a year ago, according to the weekly data released by the Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields fell by nine to 834 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 fell by two to 193 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by 11 to 1,004. The number of inland waters and offshore drilling rigs both stayed level as the previous week at one and 22 rigs, respectively.
The number of directional drilling rigs remained same as the last week at 67 rigs, the number of horizontal drilling rigs fell by seven to 904 rigs, while the number of vertical drilling rigs decreased by four to 56 rigs.
The U.S. state of Pennsylvania led the gains with three rigs. Oklahoma also saw an increase of one drilling rig. The number of drilling rigs in Texas decreased by one to 502 rigs.
Drilling activity and newly added wells are crucial to maintain as well as increase crude oil production in the United States.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that weekly U.S. crude oil production averaged 12.1 million barrels per day in the week ending March 1, the same as the previous week.
In the Annual Energy Outlook 2019 released in January, the EIA forecast that the United States will become a net energy exporter in 2020 due to its increased crude oil production and decreased domestic consumption of petroleum products.
Oil prices dropped on Friday as weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report raised concerns over global economic slowdown.
The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell 0.59 dollar to settle at 56.07 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery declined 0.56 dollar to close at 65.74 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
