Our Team

Managing Director

Wolfgang's involvement in the Australian and overseas natural resources industry, particularly petroleum exploration and development, has spanned 50 years.

In 1974 Wolfgang graduated from the University of Melbourne, with a first-class Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours majoring in Geology. Upon graduating, he joined Esso Australia and spent 13 years with the company during which he held a range of operational and senior management positions including a period in which he managed all of Esso’s many onshore and offshore exploration ventures in Western Australia. During his time with Esso he was a member of the exploration team responsible for Esso's exploration activities in the world-class offshore Gippsland Basin and the Bonaparte Basin and offshore Western Australia. Whilst with Esso he also participated in the discovery of four oil and gas fields in offshore Malaysia with total reserves in excess of 1.5 billion barrels of oil. In the early 1980s, Wolfgang headed Esso’s petroleum new ventures activities where he developed his lasting interest in the commercial aspects of the natural resources industry.

In 1986 he joined the ASX listed Australian Petroleum Fund (AUSPET) as Exploration Manager and six months later took on the role of Managing Director, a position he held until September 1989 when he left to set up his own companies in the petroleum industry. During his time with AUSPET he directed its growth from a junior explorer to a successful oil and gas producer and pipeline owner.

After leaving AUSPET, Wolfgang was involved in the discovery of the massive Bayu-Undan gas-condensate field in the Timor Sea, which is now a world class LNG project. He was also one of the few who, in the mid-late 1990s, recognised early on the potential of coal seam natural gas in Queensland and was instrumental in building and developing a coal seam gas acreage portfolio which was sold to a major Australian energy company for more than $700 million.

Wolfgang also has previous experience in exploring for geothermal energy in Australia, early in the last decade. At the start of the previous decade Wolfgang was involved in the exploration for geothermal energy sources in the Normanton area where Wolfgang’s company, Terra Estus Resources Pty Ltd, was granted EPG 32, EPG 34 and EPG 36. It was when the first major phase of exploration for geothermal energy by several companies, including the high profile companies Geodynamics and Hot Dry Rocks. This was well before the current widespread drive to identify energy sources with the aim of reducing global carbon emissions. Evaluation of the geology of the EPGs indicated some potential for geothermal energy but it was assessed at the time that the economics of electricity generation from geothermal energy in the Normanton area was not economically viable and the EPGs were relinquished. Others also recognised the same challenges then to the economic viability of creating electricity from geothermal energy and Australia’s nascent geothermal energy industry died off. Wolfgang gained valuable experience through his involvement in geothermal exploration at the time.

In addition to his role as Managing Director of Terra Calor Energy, Wolfgang is also a director of several unlisted companies involved in the energy industry in Australia.

Wolfgang is a long standing member of several professional associations including the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia.

During his career, Wolfgang has identified attractive business opportunities in their early stages and has developed them to generate substantial shareholder value. He has a strong commercial focus and the ability to appraise situations in their local and strategic contexts.