Heinz Watzka

Heinz Watzka started his career with a study in engineering (Msc.) at the Technical University of Vienna in Austria. During his course of studies he specialized in pipeline welding and hydraulic design of pump stations for the oil industry.
From 1981 till 1986 he had a job as a work student at ILF Consulting Engineers in Munich. Later on he was a project engineer and manager for oil, gas and water pipeline projects in Nigeria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Libya etc. where he expanded his knowledge in engineering.
In 1991 he collected more experience, when he worked as a project engineer for the hydraulic optimization of the Transalpine Pipeline crude oil system in Germany, Austria and Italy. Three years later he became the Technical Manager of Deutsche Transalpine Oelleitung (TAL) in Munich, Germany till 2002. Concurrently he acted as a consultant for the shareholders BP and OMV in surveys for the Trans Alyeska Pipeline System in Anchorage, Alaska and PARCO Pipeline System in Karachi, Pakistan.
In 2002 he moved from the oil business to the gas business and joined Ruhrgas as a Senior Vice President with the responsibility for the maintenance in the South Region. 2008 he changed to be the Operation Manager for the complete gas grid in Germany.
From 2010-2013 he was acting as Member of the Board of Directors of Open Grid Europe, Germany’s largest high pressure pipeline operator. There he was responsible for 1,000 technicians and engineers, 12,000 km of high pressure pipelines and 29 compressor stations with 1,000 MW installed power. His main focus was on innovative pipeline pigging systems, leadership in OHS systems (Occupational Health and Safety) and manpower optimization with fleet management and mobile workforce.
In addition to that, Heinz Watzka held a wide range of other manadates: President of the coordination committee and member of supervisory board of MEGAL, Member of the supervisory board of TENP, Member of the commercial and technical committee of EVG Thüringen-Sachsen, Member of the coordination committee of TGL TauernGasleitung Salzburg, Member of the board of management of DVGW, Vice President of OPMG at CONCAWE, President of Oil Pipelines Group at DGMK, Co-Chair of the ptc - Pipeline Technology Conference.