The number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 19 to 916 last week, 128 rigs down year-on-year, according to the weekly data released by Baker Hughes on Friday, report agencies.
According to the Houston-based oilfield services company, these active drilling rigs included 754 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down 16; 162 gas drilling rigs, down three. Of the 916 rigs, 887 are land drilling ones, down 20; 28 offshore drilling ones, up one; and one inland water drilling rig, remaining level as last week.
Of them, 69 are directional drilling rigs, 797 are horizontal drilling rigs and 50 are vertical drilling rigs. The number of drilling rigs increased the most by three to 19 rigs in the state of West Virginia, while Pennsylvania lost the most with six to 35, and Texas and Colorado both lost four to 446 and 28 rigs, respectively. The number of horizontal drilling rigs this week decreased the most by 18. Horizontal drilling is one of the most renowned technologies in the petroleum industry, which has brought about a revolution in worldwide energy production.
With the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, oil production has increased significantly, and this is termed as "Shale Revolution." According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), hydraulically fractured horizontal wells accounted for 69 percent of all oil and natural gas wells and 83 percent of the total linear footage drilled in the country. By far, the Permian basin has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, which has become the engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years.
Although the number of U.S. active drilling rigs this week decreased to near two-year low, U.S. production of crude oil held fast at an average of 12.3 million barrels per day for the week ending Aug. 16, according to the EIA. Enditem