HOUSTON, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by one to 1,054 this week, or 114 more than that this time last year, showed weekly data released by Baker Hughes on Friday.
The Houston-based oilfield services company reported that the U.S. state of Oklahoma led the gain with increasing by five rigs, while Texas decreased by two.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields declined by three to 863 rigs this week, and more than half of the oil rigs were located in the Permian Basin region of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The number of rigs drilling for gas gained three to a total of 189 rigs this week. The count of miscellaneous rigs increased by one at two.
Oil prices extended gains on Friday as the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell for a second straight week.
The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose 1.13 U.S. dollars to settle at 73.25 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery added 1.00 dollar to 82.72 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
