HOUSTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased eight to 448 rigs this week, up by 74 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

These active drilling rigs included 344 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, up by two from the previous week; 103 gas drilling rigs, up by seven from the previous week and one miscellaneous rigs, down by one from last week.

The 448 rigs included 434 land drilling rigs, up by eight from last week; one inland water rig and 13 offshore drilling rigs, both unchanged from last week.

Of them, 23 are directional drilling rigs, 408 are horizontal drilling rigs and 17 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the state of Texas gained the most by five rigs, reaching 217 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 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 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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