Geco (Geophysical Company of Norway)
Geco-Prakla was a European geophysical service company specializing in seismic surveys for petroleum exploration.
History
The company started as Geoteam-Computas Ltd. A.S. on December 13, 1972. The name was later changed to Geophysical Company of Norway or Geco. Anders Farestveit was the founder and CEO. The main focus was marine seismic surveys. Geco was merged with Statex (owned by Statoil and Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk) in 1977.
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 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, Kent, UK). Following the merger with Prakla-Seismos 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. Schlumberger retained 70% ownership in the venture; Baker Hughes owned the remaining 30%.
In April 2006 Schlumberger acquired the 30% from Baker Hughes for $2.4 billion.
Now, this company doesn't exist any more. All of its assets, employees, and legal identities belong to WesternGeco (A Schlumberger company).
References
- På dypt vann - Et høyteknologisk eventyr. Halvor Kr. Bjerke, 1989. (In deep waters - a high-tech adventure).