According to the weekly data released by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes on Friday, the number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased to 620 this week. This is down by three from the previous week and by 159 from last year.
The breakdown of these active drilling rigs are as follows: 498 oil rigs operating in U.S. oil fields, down by three from the previous week; 120 gas rigs, up by one; and two miscellaneous rigs, down by one.
The 620 drilling rigs included 601 land drilling rigs and 19 offshore drilling rigs. Among them, 46 were directional drilling rigs, 563 were horizontal drilling rigs and 11 were vertical drilling rigs.
Over the past years, the Permian Basin in western Texas and eastern New Mexico has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States. It has become a key driver of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
