HOUSTON, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by three to 244 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 172 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by four from the previous week; 70 gas drilling rigs, up by one from last week, and two miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.

The 244 rigs included 230 land drilling rigs, down by five from the previous week, and 13 offshore drilling rigs and one inland water drilling rig, both up by one from last week.

Of them, 24 are directional drilling rigs, 207 are horizontal drilling rigs and 13 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the number of drilling rigs decreased the most by four in the state of Texas to 100.

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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