HOUSTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States was unchanged at 251 this week, down by 691 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 180 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by one from the previous week; 69 gas drilling rigs, up by one from the previous week, and two miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.
The 251 rigs included 239 land drilling rigs and 12 offshore drilling rigs, both unchanged from the previous week.
Of them, 22 are directional drilling rigs, 216 are horizontal drilling rigs and 13 are vertical drilling rigs.
During the week, the number of drilling rigs decreased the most by two in the state of New Mexico to 49 rigs.
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 production in June reached 16.24 million tonnes, an increase of 0.7 percent year on year. China imported 53.18 million tonnes of crude oil in June, up 34.4 percent year on year. Enditem
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