Our Team
Mr Wolfgang Fischer
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.
In addition to his role as Managing Director of Gulf Energy, Wolfgang is also a director of several unlisted companies involved in the upstream 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.
Mr Paul Larby
Non-Executive Director
Paul Larby qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (for England and Wales) in 1976.
Paul started on his career as a chartered accountant in the bustling financial epicenter of London. Subsequently, he joined the esteemed ranks of Ernst & Whinney, where his professional journey led him into the realm of auditing insurance entities, including Lloyds Insurance of London, alongside a distinguished array of enterprises listed on both the London and Sydney Stock Exchanges.
Notably, among his clientele, Paul was the auditor of London and Scottish Marine Oil (LASMO), a stalwart in the realm of petroleum exploration and production within the North Sea.
Paul's financial career spans over three and a half decades, during which he honed his expertise within the domains of financial services and investment advisory. Noteworthy is his ability to cultivate a formidable clientele of high-net-worth individuals, a testament to his unwavering commitment to ethical and principled business practices, while nurturing robust connections with institutional investors of repute.Notably, Paul has consistently demonstrated his unwavering support and investment in Gulf Energy, rendering invaluable counsel to the Gulf Energy Board in recent years, an endeavor characterized by sagacious wisdom and profound insight.
His extensive tenure includes his stewardship as a board member for a prominent Australian superannuation fund for 21 years.
