HOUSTON, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by two to 310 rigs this week, down by 493 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

The active drilling rigs included 231 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by five from the previous week; 76 gas drilling rigs, up by three from the previous week; and three miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.

The 310 rigs included 296 land drilling rigs, down by one from the previous week; 12 offshore drilling rigs, down by one from last week and two inland water drilling rig, same as last week.

Of them, 20 are directional drilling rigs, 272 are horizontal drilling rigs and 18 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the number of drilling rigs increased the most by two in the state of New Mexico to 55 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 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 increased 1.4 percent year on year to 16.41 million tonnes in October. China imported 42.56 million tonnes of crude oil in the month, decreasing 6.5 percent year on year. Enditem

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