Americas-focused Australian oil and gas explorer Karoon Energy is looking to improve after a disappointing first half at its oil field off the coast of Brazil.
The Baúna floating oil rig had issues with reliability and safety, with one worker injured and another five near misses - four related to dropped objects that could have hurt someone and one involved helicopter birdstrike.
Baúna's production in the south Atlantic Ocean was down to 3.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from the six months to June 30, from 5.4 million barrels in the previous six months.
The Australian stock exchange listed company's new Who Dat well in the US Gulf of Mexico did contribute another 1.5 million barrels in its first full half-year of operations but overall Karoon's total production was down seven per cent from the six months previous.
Karoon's share price has also weakened - falling 27.1 per cent so far this year to $1.48 on Friday - although RBC Capital and Citi late last month reaffirmed buy ratings on Australia's fourth-biggest upstream oil and gas company.
"We've had a tough first half of the year," Karoon managing director Dr Julian Fowles told AAP.
"We didn't get the reliability that we were looking for.
"But I think we've got in place now the right steps to improve that through the second half, and yeah, we should see better performance in the second half."
Who Dat, which is operated by LLOG Exploration Co as part of a joint venture with Karoon, did have to suspend operations on Wednesday as Hurricane Francis approached but the suspension is only expected to last for about a week.
All workers have been evacuated from the platform off the coast of Louisiana.
Dr Fowles said LLOG were "very seasoned Gulf of Mexico operators" and he trusted them to handle the situation.
LLOG is also drilling a new exploration well 11km west of the Who Dat floating production system that could be tied into that facility.
Dr Fowles said the results from that well site are expected in October, with drilling at a third exploration well nearby likely to commence late November or early December.
"So we've got a few things happening there, between the three of them, those wells could potentially double the resource size that we've got at Who Dat, in terms of Karoon's share."
That would be "pretty interesting," Dr Fowles said, while cautioning that there was no guaranteeing that the exploration would be successful.
Karoon is also looking to make an final investment decision by the end of next year about whether to move forward with developing its Neon oil field 60km northeast of Baúna.
"It's a challenging project, we've got some challenges to face, and I don't want to underestimate or understate them," Dr Fowles said, explaining that they involve managing capital expenditures.
"So we've got to work through but that work is going well. I'm optimistic about Neon."
