Karoon Energy (ASX: KAR), an ASX-listed international oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in Brazil and the United States of America, has announced an updated production guidance for CY25, despite encountering an issue with a downhole pump at its Baúna Project in Brazil. On August 13, 2025 (BRT time), the Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) in the subsea SPS-92 well shut down due to the failure of one of the electrical cables supplying power to the ESP motor. The SPS-92 well had been producing approximately 8,500-9,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) during August prior to the shutdown.
Partial production was restored on August 18, utilising the remaining two electrical cables, bringing the well to a choked-back production rate of approximately 2,500 to 3,000 bopd. Karoon, in collaboration with equipment supplier SLB, is evaluating remediation options, anticipating a potential doubling of current rates. The company believes a rig-based well intervention to replace the ESP will be required to reinstate full production, with work already underway to identify and contract a suitable drilling rig.
Karoon anticipates the intervention will commence no earlier than the second quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and material procurement. Despite the expected impact on Baúna Project production until the intervention, the company has raised its Baúna production guidance for CY25 from 6.7 – 7.7 MMbbl to 7.3 – 7.8 MMbbl. This revision is attributed to the strong performance during the first half of 2025 before the SPS-92 electrical fault.
Coupled with a narrowed Who Dat guidance, which is performing in line with expectations, Karoon now expects total production for CY25 to be between 9.7 – 10.5 MMboe. Karoon’s CEO, Dr Julian Fowles, noted that ESP failures are not uncommon and that contingency plans for ESP replacements at SPS-92 and PRA-2 were already in place for 2026.
