HOUSTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States increased by 11 to 1,063 this week, or 135 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 Texas led the gain with increasing by eight rigs, while Oklahoma and Ohio decreased the most by one.

The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields increased by eight to a total of 869 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 increased by four to 193 rigs this week. The count of miscellaneous rigs fell by one.

U.S. oil prices further grew 0.52 percent Friday.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery picked up 0.37 U.S. dollar to settle at 71.34 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.?