As many people will have headed back to either their (home) office today – brutally ignoring all of those who have continued working on site regardless of whether it is Christmas or not – we briefly reflect on the year and look ahead to 2024.
At the end of last year, we said goodbye to our longest-serving team member Kirsti Karlsson, which marks the end of an era for us and Kirsti as well. Kirsti worked for the magazine tirelessly from the very start in 2004, and attended many conferences where she became the face of the magazine. Kirsti, thank you so much for your dedication and we will miss you! At the same time, we would like to say welcome to Pia Himberg, our new sales manager. Pia has been working with our director Ingvild Ryggen Carstens for quite some years already, so we know her well. Please join me in saying Hi to Pia. You may well be communicating with her when you are thinking of promoting your business through our magazine and/or website.
What will the new year bring in terms of content? First of all, we will continue our editorial focus of reporting on the energy sector from a subsurface perspective. Geoscience is and will remain the core of our editorial content. And whilst we do place serious emphasis on low-carbon and upcoming sectors such as geothermal and CCS, we also acknowledge that the majority of the energy we consume is still from fossil sources. We do not want to close our eyes for that, and feel that being realistic about this forms a much better starting point when it comes to forming a holistic view of what is happening in the subsurface energy sector.
In addition to the content you are used to reading from us, we are always open to ideas about new content. Please do approach us when you’ve got an idea, and we will work together to get that in an appealing format. We do believe that good graphics form a major element in telling a story, and we try to set ourselves apart from other outlets in doing so. It is a major undertaking to produce good maps, diagrams and cross-sections, but surely, as a geoscientist, we believe that that is what people want to see.
Let’s finish this wee story with a snippet that I read in a document entitled “United Kingdom energy outlook”, produced by Exxon: “The rate of improvement in “energy intensity” – read energy efficiency (ed) – was given a sharp spur by the rise in energy prices since 1973. The further price increases assumed in the future will add to the incentive to economize in the use of energy-intensive products and activities.”
This was written in the winter of 1981/1982 and brings the message home that in some ways we are still in the very same position, with recent energy prices forming a clear incentive to scrutinise energy use. However, the difference between the situation 40 years ago and the one we find ourselves in today is that – at least in Europe – there is no real prospect of finding more oil and gas that would seriously dent prices, whilst there was a lot more to be found back then. The conclusion seems to be justified that the energy transition is not only required from a climate perspective, it is also desperately needed when it comes to the security of supply. And the subsurface does play a pivotal role in that – the subsurface that we will continue to emphasise this year.
