Welcome to our Company

About Us

Since Mud Master's inception in 1981, we have striven to provide quality service to our clientele.   With several years oil and gas experience in drilling & completions, our management and technical team believes in providing innovative, cost effective drilling fluid solutions for our clients that appeal to sound health, safety and environmental practices.  From pioneering horizontal drilling in the early 1990's with a clay-free polymer drilling fluid system to the recent introduction of the new performance based  drilling fluids additives, Mud Master strives  to offer industry first, value added products and solutions to our clients.

The Mud Master team is experienced with all major drilling fluid systems and has an excellent working knowledge of the Western Canadian Basin, and the northern US plains.  We maintain a comprehensive database of wells serviced, giving us the ability to provide our clients with valuable offset data.  In addition, most of our field services are provided by Mud Master Employees, allowing us to maintain better control over our operations, and in turn, providing diligent service to our clients.

Robert Nieuwesteeg, Partner | President
Rob has been a resident of Calgary since 1992 and holds a bachelor of arts degree from Carleton University. He has over 15 years of experience in the Western Canadian energy sector, which began with Mi Drilling Fluids as a field service engineer. From there, Rob continued his drilling fluid career with Reef Mud, Drilling Specialties and Halliburton. In 1998, Rob joined Mud Master Drilling Fluids as a technical sales rep in Calgary. Rob would rely on his strong operations background to help grow Mud Master over the next few years and move into a Vice President position. During that time, the company would experience a better than 200% growth rate. In 2003, Rob became a partner in Mud Master. Today Rob serves as President of Mud Master and its completions division OptiFrac, and is intimately involved in all aspects of the company. In his spare time he enjoys travel, golf and outdoor activities.

Dean Webster, Partner | Vice President
Dean is a native Calgarian and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary. He is a Professional Engineer with over twenty five years of experience in the oil and gas, environmental, and transportation industries. Dean joined Mud Master in February, 2011 and brings a wealth of management experience to Mud Master and OptiFrac. Previously, Dean spent five years as Senior Vice President for a public oilfield service company that provided a diverse range of products, services and equipment to the industry. From 1994 to 2005, Dean held various management positions with the ECL Group of Companies, the most recent three years on the company's executive team as Vice President, Marketing and Business Development. ECL provided oilfield, environmental and transportation services to their customers. Dean started his career and worked in various capacities for 9 years with the Energy Resources Conservation Board. He worked as a reservoir engineer and environmental engineer with the Board.

Jerry Nieuwesteeg, Vice President Finance
Jerry is a resident of Fernie, BC and has a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo. He has over 30 years of experience in various areas of the oil and gas industry. Jerry joined Mud Master in 2010 and will use the skills he has acquired from previous management positions to effectively manage the Corporate day to day financial operations of Mud Master. Previously, Jerry spent 4 years managing various crude blending facilities for Gibson Energy, a private midstream energy company. Jerry had spent the previous 25 years in various aspects of crude oil marketing and corporate tax compliance. Jerry is married to Janet and has two children, Carter and Emma.

Don Gallant, Drilling Fluids Technician
Don's career in the oil and gas industry began in the early 1980's with various service providers. In 2001 Don made the transition to Mud Master Drilling Fluid Services Ltd., and has continued to serve the oil and gas industry as a Drilling Fluids Technician. With 10 years of experience with Mud Master Don brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the OptiFrac team.