HOUSTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by nine to 975 this week, and 87 rigs down from a year ago, according to the weekly data released by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields decreased by 11 to 789 rigs this week, and more than half of them were in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of gas drilling rigs increased by two to 186 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by nine to 948 rigs. The number of inland waters drilling rigs and offshore drilling rigs both stayed level with the last week at four and 23 rigs, respectively.
The number of drilling rigs in the state of Louisiana increased the most by four to 68 rigs. When it comes to Texas, the number of drilling rigs decreased by seven to 473 rigs.
Oil prices went up on Friday, as U.S. oil rig count fell sharply this week, easing concerns there would be a potential supply glut and Saudi Arabia called for oil production cut extension.
The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery increased 1.4 U.S. dollars to settle at 53.99 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery rose 1.62 dollars to close at 63.29 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
