HOUSTON, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by seven to 491 rigs this week, up by 240 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 387 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by seven from the previous week. There were 104 gas drilling rigs and no miscellaneous rigs, same as last week.
The 491 rigs included 473 land drilling rigs, up by seven from the previous week; one inland water rig and 17 offshore drilling rigs, both unchanged from last week.
Of them, 33 are directional drilling rigs, 439 are horizontal drilling rigs and 19 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, Texas was the state adding the most rigs. It gained six rigs to reach 228 in total.
So 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 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