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

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HOUSTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 18 to 868 this week, 185 rigs down year on year, according to the weekly data released by Baker Hughes on Friday.

According to the Houston-based oilfield services company, these active drilling rigs included 719 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down 14 from the previous week; 148 gas drilling rigs, down five from the previous week; and one newly added miscellaneous rig.

Of the 868 rigs, 842 are land drilling rigs, down 18 from the previous week; 25 offshore drilling rigs, down one from the previous week; and one newly added inland waters drilling rig.

Of them, 61 are directional drilling rigs, 756 are horizontal drilling rigs and 51 are vertical drilling rigs.

The number of drilling rigs increased the most by one in the states of New Mexico and Alaska, respectively, while Oklahoma lost the most with ten to 66 rigs. Texas lost seven to 423 rigs.

The number of horizontal drilling rigs this week decreased the most by 20. Horizontal drilling is one of the most renowned technologies in the petroleum industry, which has brought about a revolution in worldwide energy production.

With the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, oil production has increased significantly, and this is termed as "Shale Revolution."

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), hydraulically fractured horizontal wells accounted for 69 percent of all oil and natural gas wells and 83 percent of the total linear footage drilled in the country.

By far, the Permian basin has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, which has become the engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years. Enditem

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