Number of active U.S. drilling rigs increases this week

HOUSTON, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by three to 351 rigs this week, down by 445 year on year, according to the weekly data released Wednesday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

These active drilling rigs included 267 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by three from the previous week; 83 gas drilling rigs and one miscellaneous rigs, both unchanged from last week.

The 351 rigs included 332 land drilling rigs, up by three from the previous week; 17 offshore drilling rigs and two inland water drilling rig, both unchanged from last week.

Of them, 21 are directional drilling rigs, 313 are horizontal drilling rigs and 17 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the state of Texas added the most by two rigs, reaching 161 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 been a world important oil producer in the past years with the help of its shale oil production growth. Meanwhile, China is 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 went up 1.2 percent year on year to 15.96 million tonnes in November. China imported 45.36 million tonnes of crude oil in November, down 0.8 percent year on year.