HOUSTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by 15 to 796 this week, down by 254 rigs year-on-year, according to the weekly data released by a Houston-based oilfield services company on Friday.
According to Baker Hughes, these active drilling rigs included 673 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by 14 from the previous week; 120 gas drilling rigs, up by one from the previous week; and three miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.
The 796 rigs included 775 land drilling rigs, up by 16 from the previous week; 20 offshore drilling rigs, down by one; and one inland waters drilling rig which remained unchanged from last week.
Of them, 44 are directional drilling rigs, 709 are horizontal drilling rigs and 43 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, Louisiana was the only state that reported a loss of one in drilling rigs, while the number of rigs increased the most in Texas by five to 401 rigs.
The number of horizontal drilling rigs in the country increased the most by 11, down by 220 rigs year on year. Horizontal drilling is one of the most renowned technologies in the petroleum industry, which has brought about a revolution in worldwide energy production.
By far, the Permian Basin in western Texas and eastern New Mexico has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, having become an engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years.
