HOUSTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by four to 247 this week, down by 687 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 176 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by four from the previous week; 69 gas drilling rigs and two miscellaneous rigs, both unchanged from last week.
The 247 rigs included 235 land drilling rigs, down by four from the previous week, and 12 offshore drilling rigs, unchanged from last week.
Of them, 24 are directional drilling rigs, 211 are horizontal drilling rigs and 12 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, the number of drilling rigs decreased the most by three in the state of New Mexico to 46 rigs.
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.
The United States has become a major oil producer in the past years with the help of its shale oil production growth. Meanwhile, China continues to be one of the world's biggest oil consumers.
According to the latest release from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China's crude oil production in June reached 16.24 million tonnes, an increase of 0.7 percent year on year. China imported 53.18 million tonnes of crude oil in June, up 34.4 percent year on year. Enditem
