HOUSTON, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by 13 to 373 rigs this week, down by 423 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 287 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by 12 from the previous week; 85 gas drilling rigs, up by one from the previous week and one miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.
The 373 rigs included 354 land drilling rigs, up by 13 from the previous week; 16 offshore drilling rigs, down by one from the previous week; and three inland water drilling rig, up by one from last week.
Of them, 22 are directional drilling rigs, 332 are horizontal drilling rigs and 19 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, the state of Texas added the most by eight rigs, reaching 169 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 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 down 1.9 percent year on year to 16.06 million tonnes in December 2020. China imported 45.48 million tonnes of crude oil in December 2020, up 3.9 percent year on year. Enditem