“I was still a student in the US when the GEO EXPRO magazine was launched at the EAGE Annual Convention in Paris in 2004”, says Ingvild Ryggen Carstens. “The year before, Halfdan Carstens, my father, a geologist and already a publisher of the Norwegian magazine GEO, ran into Tore Karlsson, a previous colleague from SAGA Petroleum, and his wife Kirsti – who most of you know very well. Halfdan pitched the idea of an international EXploration & PROduction magazine – and the rest is history…”
“It felt like pioneering, building up a name for ourselves and getting the magazine into the hands of as many geoscientists as possible”, continues Ingvild. “But at the same time, it was a great challenge and we were a good team as well; there was the energy and spirit to make this a success amongst the two Norwegian families involved!”
“After I finished college in 2006, I embarked on my career in the oil and gas industry, always keeping an eye on the magazine from the sideline. Following completion of my Master’s degree in 2012, I joined the family business in Norway, publishing the Norwegian magazine GEO and helping establish our online news outlets geo365.no and geoforskning.no in addition to developing several conferences for the Norwegian geoscience community.”
“But I have always had a soft spot for GEO EXPRO, and when Kirsti and Tore came to Halfdan and me in 2022, asking if we wanted to take over the magazine as they planned to retire, we jumped at the opportunity. Since then, Halfdan has also retired, working on other projects, and now I work in close tandem with our new editor, Henk Kombrink, on further developing the magazine. It is full circle – and it is great to be “home”.
A magazine for a new Era
“In step with the changing tides in the energy sector, we are carving out a new course for GEO EXPRO. Traditionally, the magazine covered exploration and technology in oil & gas. We have now expanded the topics the magazine covers, working under the new tagline “The Global Energy Sector from a Subsurface Perspective”. In addition to exploration, production and technology, we now report on geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, deep sea mining and hydrogen on a regular basis – continuing to position the magazine as the geoscience community’s favourite!”
