The number of active drilling rigs in the United States dropped to 675 this week, down by five from the previous week and by 81 from the same time last year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.
These active drilling rigs included 537 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by three from the previous week; 133 gas drilling rigs, down by two from last week; and five miscellaneous rigs, down by one from last week.
The rigs included 652 land drilling rigs, five inland water rigs, and 18 offshore drilling rigs.
Of them, 52 are directional drilling rigs, 606 are horizontal drilling rigs and 17 are vertical drilling rigs.
The Permian Basin in western Texas and eastern New Mexico has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, and an engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years.
