HOUSTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased one to 438 rigs this week, down by 27 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

These active drilling rigs included 343 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by one from the previous week; 94 gas drilling rigs and one miscellaneous rigs, both unchanged from last week.

The 438 rigs included 426 land drilling rigs and one inland water rig, both unchanged from last week; and 11 offshore drilling rigs, down by one from last week.

Of them, 19 are directional drilling rigs, 397 are horizontal drilling rigs and 22 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the state of Texas lost the most by three rigs, reaching 211 rigs in total.

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 release from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China's crude oil output grew 3.3 percent year on year to 17.09 million tonnes in March. China imported 49.66 million tonnes of crude oil in March this year, up 20.8 percent year on year. Enditem

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