October 06th, 2026

MOGA Spotlight: Apollo Exploration and Development

Built on Experience, Positioned for What's Next

by Amanda Hattis
Managing Editor, Michigan Oil & Gas News

Ed Peters (left), Ernest Peters (center), and Tim Hauck (right) each bring a different perspective to Apollo Exploration. -- MICHIGAN OIL & GAS NEWS / Amanda Hattis

From its roots in Michigan’s deep gas play to operations spanning 13 counties, Apollo Exploration & Development has built its business on experience, relationships and a willingness to adapt.

Apollo Exploration & Development, Inc. has been part of Michigan’s oil and gas story for more than four decades—but the company operating today reflects both that history and a willingness to continually evolve.

Founded in 1982 by Keith Feight, Jack and John Neyer, Bob Perrigo and Harry Tope, Apollo was originally established to participate in Michigan’s deep gas play and develop the Rosebush Richfield field.

A new chapter began in 2013, when Ed and Ernest Peters and Tim Hauck took over the company. Each brought a different background and perspective to Apollo, but all three had deep roots in the industry.

Hauck has worked in the land and exploration side of Michigan oil and gas since beginning his career in the 1970s. Ed Peters spent much of his career on the drilling side, beginning in Michigan in 1980 before working in nine states, including Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, North Dakota, Colorado and Montana.

​Ernest Peters began his career in land in Michigan in 2006. He later moved into regulatory and operations work in Texas before returning to Michigan in 2011 and transitioning into operations and acquisitions.

That variety of experience has become one of Apollo’s strengths.

Everyone in the office and field brings a different professional history, personality and perspective to the business. Those differences can make for plenty of discussion when difficult decisions arise, but Ernest Peters said the team takes pride in considering the possibilities carefully before deciding how to move forward—even if, occasionally, “a referee with a whistle could give benefit to the process.”

The result is a company whose leaders continue to learn from one another and from the business itself.
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“Operations have been a fascinating study,” Peters said, noting that even the seemingly simplest aspects of the industry continue to offer lessons.

Building on Michigan Roots

Today, Apollo is a conventional oil and gas operating company utilizing third-party field contractors across multiple areas of Michigan.

The company focuses on Niagaran, Dundee, Richfield and A1 production. Although oil has historically been Apollo’s primary focus, its portfolio has expanded over time to include natural gas liquids, condensate and natural gas production.

Apollo currently operates in 13 Michigan counties, expanding its footprint gradually and at a pace its leadership believes is sustainable given changing commodity prices, regulatory requirements and economic conditions.
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That measured approach is coupled with an emphasis on relationships—particularly with the landowners and mineral owners connected to Apollo’s operations.

For Peters and the Apollo team, that philosophy is personal. They began on the land side of the business and have experience as land and mineral owners themselves.

“Operations have been a fascinating study.”
— Ernest Peters

Apollo’s leadership personally handles calls and meetings with landowners and mineral owners, even when doing so may ​not be the most efficient use of time. The goal, Peters said, is to make sure people know the company is committed to doing the right thing.

An Industry Worth Appreciating

That personal approach is especially important in an industry that Peters acknowledges can carry a stigma because of both successes and failures throughout its history.

Apollo’s leaders also remain keenly aware that they did not build the company alone.

Ed Peters credits a long list of people who shared their time and industry knowledge as he and his partners established themselves in the business, including Robert K. Torgerson, Bill Boss, Bill Roth, Larry Anderson, Gyle Atterberry, Ed Ososki, Robert Perrigo, Dennis McConahy and Steve Bigard, among many others.
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Each, Ed Peters said, helped at a time when the Apollo team was “light on both” time and knowledge—and each made his own mark on the energy industry along the way.

Ed and Ernest have worked together for 17 years across more than six different industries, each bringing a unique perspective and experience to their work. -- MICHIGAN OIL & GAS NEWS / Amanda Hattis

After years spent working in oil and gas, Ernest Peters still finds the basic premise of the industry remarkable.

​Oil and natural gas are woven into modern life through products ranging from fuels and lubricants to plastics and pharmaceuticals. But Peters said Apollo’s team has often discussed how extraordinary the process itself is when viewed from a broader perspective: companies are producing naturally occurring resources from within the earth and using them to support and advance modern civilization.

The concept, he said, can seem “almost sci-fi movie like.”
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That appreciation for the fundamentals of the industry has not kept Apollo from embracing change. In fact, adapting to it is becoming increasingly important.

Yvonne Wilcox, accounts admin, has been with Apollo Exploration since 2013. -- MICHIGAN OIL & GAS NEWS / Amanda Hattis

Staying Lean - and Looking Forward

Apollo’s next chapter will be shaped in part by its ability to navigate an ever-changing regulatory and economic environment.

The company has experienced low commodity prices, high prices, changing vendors and increasing costs in just the past few years. Peters said understanding those dynamic conditions—and being realistic about them—is critical to maximizing Apollo’s investments and existing assets.

One strategy has remained particularly important: staying lean and mobile.

Apollo’s leadership believes that flexibility is more important than ever as operating conditions continue to change.

Technology is also becoming an increasingly important part of that equation.

During the past year, Apollo has deployed new software and technology in the field and is watching closely to see what those tools can offer. The company continues to explore advancements in automation, artificial intelligence, chemical treatments, equipment and other techniques that could improve production.
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​Of particular interest are technologies that can help operators get more from depleted or low-pressure reservoirs—an important consideration for mature conventional assets.

And Apollo is not finished growing.
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The company continues to look for acquisition opportunities within or adjacent to the areas where it already operates.

​At the same time, Peters said Apollo remains willing to explore new concepts and collaborate with its oil and gas peers when opportunities arise.

That openness to new ideas is balanced by more than four decades of company history and the collective experience of the people behind it.

From its beginnings in Michigan’s deep gas play to a portfolio now spanning 13 counties, Apollo has changed considerably since 1982. Yet its approach remains grounded in many of the same things that helped its current leadership build the business: relationships, careful decision-making, an appreciation for those who helped along the way and a willingness to keep learning.

For Apollo Exploration & Development, the horizon is less about predicting exactly what comes next and more about being ready to adapt when it arrives.​