HOUSTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by 10 to 1,006 this week, but still increased by 13 from a year ago, according to the weekly data released by the Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields fell by eight to 816 this week, and more than half of them were located in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of gas drilling rigs fell by two to 190 rigs, and the number of miscellaneous drilling rigs remained at zero.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by 12 to 981. The number of inland waters drilling rigs fell by one to two, and the number of offshore drilling rigs grew by three to 23 rigs.
The number of directional drilling rigs increased by one to 64 rigs, the number of horizontal drilling rigs fell by nine to 891 rigs, and the number of vertical drilling rigs decreased by two to 51 rigs.
The U.S. states of Louisiana and North Dakota led the gains with three rigs, respectively. The number of drilling rigs in Texas decreased by six to 491 rigs.
Drilling activity and newly added wells are crucial to maintain as well as increase crude oil production in the United States.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil production last week stayed the same as the previous week at 12.1 million barrels per day, up by about 1.7 million barrels per day year on year.
In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA said that U.S. crude oil production averaged 11.9 million barrels per day in February, down slightly from the January average. EIA forecast that U.S. crude oil output will average 12.3 million barrels per day in 2019 and 13.0 million in 2020, with most of the growth coming from the Permian region in the states of Texas and New Mexico.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported Wednesday that the southern U.S. energy sector activity grew modestly as oil price jumps in the first quarter of 2019.
Oil and gas production increased for the 10th consecutive quarter, according to exploration and production executives. However, the oil production index fell from 29.1 in the fourth quarter last year to 21.1 in first quarter of 2019, indicating a slower rate of growth.
