HOUSTON, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by five to 484 rigs this week, up by 231 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 380 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by two from the previous week; 104 gas drilling rigs, up by three from the previous week. There was no miscellaneous rig, same as last week.
The 484 rigs included 466 land drilling rigs, up by five from the previous week; one inland water rig and 17 offshore drilling rigs, both unchanged from last week.
Of them, 32 are directional drilling rigs, 434 are horizontal drilling rigs and 18 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, Wyoming was the state adding the most rigs. It gained three rigs to reach 13 in total.
The Permian Basin in western Texas and eastern New Mexico has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, an engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years.
The United States has been 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 grew 2.8 percent year on year to 16.67 million tonnes in June. China imported 40.14 million tonnes of crude oil in June, down 24.5 percent year on year. Enditem