HOUSTON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The active number of drilling rigs in the United States increased just one this week to 1,046 mainly in the West Texas Permian Basin, according to weekly data collected by Baker Hughes released Friday.

The Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that the Permian added four oil rigs, but that was counterbalanced by losses elsewhere. The overall rig count grew by just one rig drilling for natural gas, while the oil rig count remained flat.

There are now 844 rigs drilling for oil with more than half of them - 467 - situated in the Permian. There are exactly 200 gas-seeking rigs and two miscellaneous rigs, creating a total rig count of 1,046, the highest count since March 2015.

Oil prices settled lower on Friday after traders took profits following a continuous rally of the market.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery fell 0.21 U.S. dollar to settle at 71.28 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery decreased 0.79 dollar to close at 78.51 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.