HOUSTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased seven to 439 rigs this week, down by 90 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 344 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by seven from the previous week; 94 gas drilling rigs, up by one from the last week; and one miscellaneous rig, down by one from last week.
The 439 rigs included 426 land drilling rigs, up by five from the previous week; 12 offshore drilling rigs, up by one from last week; and one inland water rig, up by one from last week.
Of them, 20 are directional drilling rigs, 398 are horizontal drilling rigs and 21 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, the state of Texas added the most by five rigs, reaching 214 rigs in total.
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 biggest oil consumers of the world.
According to the release from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China's crude oil output grew 0.4 percent year on year to 32.08 million tonnes in the first two months of this year. China imported 89.57 million tonnes of crude oil in the reporting period, up 4.1 percent year on year. Enditem
