Geco (Geophysical Company of Norway) was a European

geophysical Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' some ...

service company specializing in

seismic survey Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflection (physics), reflected seismic waves. The method require ...

s for

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

exploration. Starting operating in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

from 1972, the company expanded to operate in most marine areas open for explorations, until Geco was incorporated into Geco-Prakla, with

Schlumberger Limited Schlumberger Limited (), doing business as SLB, is an oilfield services company. Schlumberger has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and The Hague. Schlumberger is the world's largest offshore drilling compa ...

as the solely owner from 1993.

History

The company started as Geoteam-Computas Ltd. A.S on December 13, 1972. The name was shortly afterwards changed to Geophysical Company of Norway, most commonly referred to as Geco. Anders Farestveit was the founder and the first CEO. The main focus was marine seismic surveys, including developing and equipping seismic vessels and conducting seismic surveys on customer requests. Geco was merged with the competing Norwegian geophysical company at that time, Statex (owned by Statoil and

Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk Kongsberg Gruppen is an international technology group headquartered in Norway, that supplies high-technology systems to customers in the merchant marine, defence, aerospace, offshore oil and gas industries, and renewable and utilities industri ...

) effective from January 1, 1978. Ownership after the merger was shared between Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk and

Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...

. Geco retained its identity and name, but extended its service portfolio and global market share from 1978. Besides seismic surveys, the company offered data processing services and interpretation services. The company was spending its earnings in the area of technology research and development. They succeeded in offering a first commercial available 3D seismic interpretation workstation, "Charisma" software, from 1983. Development of a first digital streamer cable, named "Nessie", was completed and in operation from 1984. The company enjoyed strong expansion until 1985, when there was a global crisis in the oil industry. In the summer of 1986 Schlumberger Limited purchased first 50%, then in 1988 the entire company. This brought about a merger with Merlin Geophysical ( Seismic Profilers), who had been purchased by Schlumberger a year earlier. Mergers with other geophysical companies followed, including Delft Geophysical, Prakla-Seismos (founded in 1963 by merger of Seismos GmbH (founded 1921) and Gesellschaft für Praktische Lagerstättenforschung (Prakla) GmbH (founded 1937)) and Seismograph Services Ltd (owned at the time by Ratheon and based in Holwood Park,

Keston Keston is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was withing the historic county of Kent. It is part suburban, part rural in nature and lies on the edge of Hayes Com ...

, Kent, UK). Following the merger with Prakla-Seismos in 1993, the company was renamed Geco-Prakla. In 2001, Geco-Prakla was joined with the Western Geophysical division of Baker Hughes in a joint venture named

WesternGeco WesternGeco is a geophysical services company. It is headquartered in Schlumberger House on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex, in Greater London. __NOTOC__ Background The company provides reservoir imaging, moni ...

. Schlumberger retained 70% ownership in the venture; Baker Hughes owned the remaining 30%. In April 2006 Schlumberger acquired the 30% interest from Baker Hughes for $2.4 billion. Now, this company doesn't exist anymore. All of its assets, employees, and legal identities belong to Schlumberger.

References

* På dypt vann - Et høyteknologisk eventyr. Halvor Kr. Bjerke, 1989. (''In deep waters - a high-tech adventure''). {{Authority control Oilfield services companies History of the petroleum industry in Norway Defunct companies of Norway Engineering companies of Norway Non-renewable resource companies established in 1972 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1993 Seismology