HOUSTON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by ten to 320 rigs this week, down by 482 year on year, according to the weekly data released on Wednesday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 241 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by ten from the previous week; 77 gas drilling rigs, up by one from the previous week; and two miscellaneous rigs, down by one from last week.
The 320 rigs included 306 land drilling rigs, up by ten from the previous week; 12 offshore drilling rigs and two inland water drilling rig, both same as last week.
Of them, 22 are directional drilling rigs, 283 are horizontal drilling rigs and 15 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, the state of California, New Mexico and Texas each added three rigs, reaching seven, 58 and 147 respectively.
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 became a world important oil producer in the past years with the help of its shale oil production growth. Meanwhile, China continues to be one of the biggest oil consumers of the world.
According to the latest release from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China's crude oil output edged up 1.4 percent year on year to 16.41 million tonnes in October, retreating from an increase of 2.4 percent registered in September. China imported 42.56 million tonnes of crude oil in October, down 6.5 percent year on year. Enditem
