Chariot Oil & Gas Ltd., London, has secured the Ocean Rig Poseidon drillship to drill on Petroleum Exploration License 71 offshore Namibia and expects spudding of the first well in the fourth quarter. The contract includes an optional second well. Source: News

Turkey, with politics more important to oil and gas than its minor status as a producer would suggest, holds potentially ironic elections this month. Source: News

The US drilling rig count was up 1 unit to 1,060 the week ended June 1, according to Baker Hughes data. The count is up 144 units from this time a year ago when the count stood at 916.   Source: News

Japanese company Inpex Corp. expects to begin gas production from Ichthys field wellheads in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia as early as next week or the week after. The company says it is now on track to dispatch the first shipments of condensate, LNG, and LPG by the end of September. Source: News

PJSC Lukoil has started production of road bitumen complying with new national standards requiring extended life and advanced durability of materials at subsidiary OOO Lukoil Permnefteorgsintez’s 13.1 million-tpy Perm refinery in Russia’s North Urals region, on the north bank of the Kama River.  Source: News

Cluff Natural Resources PLC, London, has 6 extra months during which to find financing for drilling on two promote licenses it acquired in the southern North Sea during the UK’s 28th licensing round in 2014.  Source: News