“As many people from my generation, I started my career with Saga Petroleum”, says Tore Karlsson. Having graduated as a geophysicist from the University of Bergen, at Saga he was further trained into seismic acquisition, processing and interpretation for five years.
Whilst at Saga, Tore met geologist Halfdan Carstens, both not aware that their paths would cross again many years later when they decided to start the GEO ExPro magazine.
“Then, I joined Geco, ‘The‘ Norwegian seismic company at the time. As Geco was subsequently acquired by Schlumberger, I continued in various roles as a geophysicist, but also in marketing and line management in different countries”, Tore continues.
“Halfdan and I met again at a conference 20 years ago”, Tore adds. “At the conference, Halfdan was promoting the idea for an international magazine with ‘easy to read’ informative articles for geologists, geophysicists and reservoir engineers involved in subsurface exploration and production of oil and gas.”
“I liked the idea and this type of magazine seemed to be lacking in the industry”, Tore continues. “Since Halfdan is a geologist and I am a geophysicist, and asset teams were considered important at that time with the need for cross-discipline understanding, we decided to go ahead with the project. We as a family had also just moved to London, which was a good location as a base for starting an international magazine.”
We launched GEO ExPro at the EAGE Annual conference in Paris in 2004, which was just the starting point of being present at relevant subsurface conferences and exhibitions around the world, continuing until today.
“So, we started out publishing the printed magazine. One of Halfdan’s creative ideas early on was the seismic foldout, providing the opportunity for geophysical companies to show mostly new or reprocessed seismic data. It was and still is a very successful development.”
“We launched GEO ExPro at the EAGE Annual conference in Paris in 2004, which was just the starting shot of being present at relevant subsurface conferences and exhibitions around the world. We have formed media partnerships with the main institutions in the industry, which has been beneficial for all parties”, Tore adds.
In addition to working for GEO ExPro, Tore started his own consultancy business in 2002. “I worked in different partnerships, as a board member, and was also an associate professor in entrepreneurship at the University of Oslo”, he says. “Combined with my role at the magazine, it has given me great exposure to the industry.”
Last year, Tore formally ended his role with the magazine. “In the last few years, I have had the chance to attend a number of international conferences. These meetings are excellent opportunities to follow the development of subsurface technology. A good example is the development of seabed seismic over these 20 years. I have contributed with articles in the magazine myself, but more importantly, provided ideas picked up at conferences as input to the editors and other contributors for articles.”
Planned for later this year is a feature on Tore’s wife Kirsti Karlsson, who continues to be instrumental for the magazine in her role as Director of Sales. In other words, the magazine has got deep roots in the Karlsson family!
