HOUSTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by six to 969 this week, and 90 rigs down from a year ago, according to the weekly data released by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields decreased by one to 788 rigs this week, and more than half of them were in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of gas drilling rigs decreased by five to 181 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by seven to 941 rigs. The number of inland waters drilling rigs stayed level at four rigs and the number of offshore drilling rigs increased by one to 24 rigs.
The number of directional drilling rigs decreased by six to 68 rigs. The number of horizontal drilling rigs decreased by three to 852 rigs and the number of vertical drilling rigs increased by three to 49 rigs.
The number of drilling rigs in the state of Louisiana increased the most by two to 70 rigs. When it comes to Texas, the number of drilling rigs decreased by six to 467 rigs.
Oil prices rose on Friday as the Middle East tensions continued to stay in focus.
The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery increased 0.23 U.S. dollar to settle at 52.51 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery gained 0.70 dollar to close at 62.01 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.