CANTEX Energy Services is locally owned and operated by Lester Ovelson out of Drayton Valley, Alberta. Lester has been in the trucking industry for over 35 years starting as a shop hand in his early teens. Much of his experience has been right in our backyard in Drayton Valley and branching out to other areas in Alberta moving drilling rigs. From Swamping, driving, field ops supervision to VP of Operations, Lester has held onto his passion for driving trucks. His career has taken him from Venezuela running projects to Alaska testing commanders and all their capabilities. As Chief Operating Officer for ATK, Lester started up and oversaw four operating divisions in Alberta (Drayton Valley, Edson, Whitecourt and Grand Prarie), one in British Columbia and one in Midland Texas.
In 2020 Lester took three decades of knowledge and experience in transportation and rig moving and started Cantex Energy Services Ltd. with its base running out of Stony Plain, Alberta.
For the first year of operations, Cantex Energy Services Ltd. saw Lester, his son in law and two trucks focus on moving rail equipment due to the downturn in oil and gas along with Covid restrictions. To properly service the rail construction sector, Lester took the initiative to modify trailers commonly used for oilfield services and installed rail systems on two trailers. This allowed Cantex to load rail equipment directly from the tracks streamlining the loading process for his customers.
The second year of operations, Cantex was able to diversify their operations into Pipeline hauling along with their continued support in rail moving. Because of the scope of the pipeline project in the Drayton Valley area, Lester moved Cantex base operations from Stony Plain to his hometown of Drayton Valley. The acquisition of a couple more trucks during this time allowed Cantex to continue supporting the railway construction along with the major pipeline project and get back to his grassroots of drilling rig moving.
Currently Cantex Energy has a fleet of 6 tractors, 2 bed trucks and various trailers and trailer combinations allowing the company to offer many services to their ever growing customer base. The last couple of years has seen a consistent organic growth, focusing on providing exemplary customer service, supporting his community, and continuing to explore opportunities to acquire assets to better serve his customers.