HOUSTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by two to 254 rigs this week, down by 632 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 and 71 gas drilling rigs, both down by one from the previous week; and three miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.

The 254 rigs included 238 land drilling rigs, down by two from the previous week, one inland water drilling rig and 15 offshore drilling rigs, both unchanged from last week.

Of them, 21 are directional drilling rigs, 214 are horizontal drilling rigs and 19 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, only the state of Oklahoma gained one rig to 12 rigs. Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia lost one rig respectively.

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 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 edged up 0.6 percent year on year to 16.46 million tonnes in July, slightly retreating from an increase of 0.7 percent registered in June. China imported 51.29 million tonnes of crude oil in July, surging 25 percent year on year. Enditem

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