Canada’s oil and gas industry is still going strong, 77 years after the Leduc No. 1 oil well was drilled in 1947, and the industry’s total revenue rose to $269.9 billion in 2022. 

It’s been said that the people from small towns on the prairies are the backbone of Canada’s oil and gas industry.

Ted Tryhuba is one of those people.  Tryhuba was born in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan into a large Catholic family and raised on a farm near Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan.  He spent most of his childhood outside playing with his friends and siblings and doing farm chores.  Tryhuba inherited his strong work ethic from his parents, and by doing farm chores, he learned how to be a self-starter.

As a young adult, Tryhuba went to the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology to learn the construction trade.  Having been exposed to the oil and gas industry in his community, he realized that that industry might be a better fit and offer more opportunity.

Tryhuba landed his first job in the oil and gas industry when his strong work ethic was recognized by a manager at KUDU Industries Inc.  “About seven years out of high school, after work and on weekends and over the course of about three months, I built my own house with the help of some friends.  One of the managers at KUDU noticed my house and was very impressed with my strong work ethic.”

Tryhuba started as a shop hand in the KUDU Macklin location. “My first job was to test and prepare pumps, but within a very short time, I was on the rig floor assisting with installations.  Soon after that, I started training employees for each region, which allowed KUDU to have a representative living in each area.”  Tryhuba knew his construction skills could only take him so far, so he took technical courses as his career advanced.

It meant a lot to Tryhuba to build his career at KUDU over a 22-year period.  He says, “Working at KUDU during this formative period in my career allowed me to show that getting the job done right and being on time for our clients gave me great personal satisfaction.  I also believed in our products.  My trustworthiness and loyalty were evident to our clients which gave them the confidence to buy from us.”

Tryhuba also says he gained his knowledge about progressive cavity pumps by starting at the bottom.  “Over time, as my knowledge grew, I learned new skills like communicating with clients as well as promoting to clients and educating clients.”

But in 1998, the oil price crisis resulted in KUDU laying off half of their employees.  “I was fortunate to keep my job, but because of the massive layoff, it meant I had to work around the clock, with no days off and no holidays, and drive all over Alberta and Saskatchewan to meet our clients’ needs.”

Fast-forward to 2014, KUDU was now a division of Schlumberger.  But in the summer of that year, there was another oil price crisis, at the same time when the international team at KUDU returned to Canada, and Schlumberger closed that division (KUDU).

Tryhuba says, “Some of the employees who were laid off from KUDU approached me about starting a new oilfield service company, and after much thought, I made the decision to leave Schlumberger and start a new chapter in my career.”

That company is MANTL Canada -- an independent, locally-owned and operated company, based on a wellhead-back approach and a customer-focused business model, that builds complete progressing cavity pump (PCP) systems for oil and gas wells -- a perfect fit for Canada’s ever-growing oil and gas industry.

“Most of MANTL’s founders have a grassroots entrepreneurship mindset which played perfectly into the founders’ vision for this company because they wanted their successes to be the communities’ successes in the small towns on the prairies where they operate,” says Tryhuba. “We had a rule that we wouldn’t enter a market unless we had one of the best local people in that market to make sure we delivered the highest level of service to the clients.”

Being a part of the startup of MANTL was very important to Tryhuba.  “It had always been a dream of mine to own a company and I knew ownership in MANTL would give me the voice and the ability to help build a company that would offer a bright future to employees and contribute to Canada’s oil and gas industry.”

MANTL’s slogan is “’cause we give a s#!t!”.  By this, the company means that all of their employees care personally about providing an excellent product and exemplary customer service, for every job and for every client.  This slogan is still as strong today as it was ten years ago when the company was started in 2014.

Tryhuba says, “Our slogan is one of our core values at MANTL.  It’s one of those things that you can’t teach so we make sure every member of our team has it.  A strong work ethic, a desire to succeed, and do the right thing by the client, is all part of it.  We’re competing against large multi-national companies and we’re proud that our clients have chosen us because they know they can count on us.”

Tryhuba is now Vice President and Director of Business Development, managing its Canadian business development department. “We truly have one of the best teams in our industry.  I’m extremely proud to represent these great MANTL people when I meet with our clients.  My business development team shares the same values that I do and they do an amazing job of representing MANTL as well.”

Today, MANTL trains the young people who are just starting out in the oil and gas industry.  “We need to bring in more youth to show them that MANTL is a great place to work and that the oil and gas industry is a great place to build a career.  We want to show them that, if you’re honest and hard-working, success will follow.”

Tryhuba is excited about his future with MANTL.  The company celebrates its 10-year anniversary in 2024.  “We continue to grow and gain more clients every year.  We’re attracting talented people who want to be part of MANTL’s story because it’s a great story.”

The same strong work ethic and integrity that got a young Tryhuba into the oil and gas industry all those decades ago, has helped to solidify the values of the entire MANTL team over the last decade and going forward into the future.