Since 2022 Henk Kombrink has been editor of the popular Norwegian publication GeoExpro, already garnering two professional society communication awards to his name. It was not the job he expected when embarking on a career as a geologist over 20 years ago. He does keep a direct connection with rocks through a small business accepting, storing and distributing unwanted North Sea oil company cores.
Netherlands upbringing
I spent my childhood in a little hamlet in the north of the country, where we had a big garden including a bit of woodland. We used to play there a lot, and built stuff all the time. When digging a hole at some point, I looked at the yellow wind-blown glacial sand on the walls and wondered where all these grains were from, and when they were deposited. My first fascination with geology!
Geography to geology
Utrecht became my hometown in 1998, when I started my physical geography studies. It was the field work that attracted me. As I progressed through the years, geology appeared on my radar more and more, and I started to attend some courses. This culminated in applying for a PhD position at the Geological Survey about the Carboniferous of the Netherlands, and I was accepted. Ever since, I have felt more like a geologist than a geographer, but I don’t regret my initial choice.
Early work history
Following completion of my PhD, I stayed with the Geological Survey for a few years. It was great to work in the Deep Subsurface Mapping Team, and I particularly enjoyed being part of big projects such as the Southern Permian Basin Atlas. It opened many doors, including a visit to the legendary petroleum geologist Ken Glennie in Scotland. this was memorable as he was in at the beginning when the Groningen field was found in 1959.
First years in Aberdeen
In 2011, I decided it was time to move somewhere else, and that somewhere became Aberdeen. The job was not entirely what I had expected: the research department at Total E&P UK was a little distant from operations, where I really wanted to be. Then, just when the oil price started to drop in 2014, I secured a role in the subsurface consultancy group LR Senergy, at that time part of Lloyds Register. The years that followed were tumultuous, many redundancy rounds followed, but I survived somehow, until the last one hit us in 2020.
Going independent
Our entire group was let go in 2020 when the pandemic unfolded. But, as my mentor David Mudge used to say; ‘Henk, you have to go independent at the age of 40, it’s the right time’. I never expected that to happen, but it did. Fortunately, I could start as a freelance writer for the website expronews.com straight away, working with Ingvild Carstens and her father Halfdan. We built up a relationship on Teams, as they were in Norway, but it worked.
Evolution as a communicator
The first two years as a freelancer were great, then Halfdan unexpectedly asked me to take over the editor role for the GeoExpro magazine and website. I agreed, but on condition that I could take a level of ownership. And so it happened. In 2022 I became co-owner of the magazine with Ingvild and we’ve been running it together since. We had to learn to work together as a small team, but these days I’m really happy with how it has turned out.
North Sea core story
In 2017, when attending a meeting in preparation for the Annual Devex Conference in Aberdeen, I overheard someone saying that they were keen to rehome some core from the Dunlin field. From that moment, I’ve been on the case. It led to the founding of North Sea Core, a small business taking delivery of unwanted core from the UK oil and gas industry. We upcycle the cores and send them all over the world for education, analysis and licensing rounds.
Geoscience future?
I am not very optimistic. From what I observe around me in Aberdeen and through my exposure as an editor worldwide, I see that there is less demand for geoscientists as we further engineer our energy system, including unconventional drilling for which fewer geologists are needed. This goes against the narrative that more geoscientists will be required going forward. But I don’t see it.
Aberdeen as a base
I have been in Aberdeen for 14 years now, which is much longer than I expected. Despite what many people say, it is still a good place to live and work. The air is clean, the beach is around the corner, and the mountains are not far away. Scotland is a beautiful country and the people are nice too.
