HOUSTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by two to 1,051 this week, or 76 more than that this time last year, according to the weekly data released by the Baker Hughes on Friday.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields grew by three to 857 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 one to 194 rigs.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the number of land drilling rigs decreased by one to 1,028. The number of inland waters and offshore drilling rigs increased by one and two, respectively.
The number of directional drilling rigs grew by 12 to 70 rigs, the number of horizontal drilling rigs fell by eight to 915 rigs, while the number of vertical drilling rigs decreased by two to 66 rigs.
The U.S. state of Louisiana led the gains with four rigs, followed by Pennsylvania with three rigs. The number of drilling rigs in Texas decreased by two to 509 rigs.
Drilling activity and newly added wells are crucial to maintain as well as increase crude oil production in the United States.
Rystad Energy forecast on Thursday that the base-case decline in the United States will be steeper and faster. Base decline is the pace at which production falls if no new wells are completed.
According to Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company, if no new wells are completed in 2019-20, light tight oil production in the United States is projected to decline by 62 percent, or 4.5 million barrels per day.
Light tight oil is light crude oil contained in petroleum-bearing formations of low permeability, often shale or tight sandstone.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil production averaged 12.0 million barrels per day in January, up 90,000 barrels per day from December 2018. Since 2010, U.S. crude oil production has been growing thanks to the output surge of shale oil.
