Engineering leadership

Mike Tanton, P.Eng. & Clive Mountford, P.Eng.

Principal Owners · Engineering & Project Management

Mike and Clive provide Grindstone’s engineering and project-management leadership, connecting technical judgment with practical field execution. Their focus includes problem wells, uncertain conditions, abandonment and remediation planning, coordinated field programs, and the disciplined follow-through needed to move projects toward documented completion.

Contact Mike Contact Clive Engineering services

Engineering plans, environmental maps, safety equipment, and field project review materials

“Specialty work demands more than technical skill. It requires attention to detail, disciplined follow-through, and a commitment to finish every scope the right way.”
Mike Tanton, P.Eng. & Clive Mountford, P.Eng.

Professional responsibility

Why the P.Eng. designation matters

A professional engineer combines regulator-accepted engineering education, supervised experience, professional-practice and ethics requirements, and continuing accountability to the applicable engineering regulator. The designation represents more than technical knowledge—it carries a duty to protect the public and exercise responsible professional judgment.

Mike and Clive bring that engineering mindset to Grindstone’s planning and coordination. They help define the technical question, identify uncertainties, organize qualified resources, establish verification criteria, and keep field decisions connected to the intended outcome. Professional authorization varies by jurisdiction, and Grindstone confirms the appropriate licensing and project team for each opportunity.

Engineering team

Experienced engineering leadership for complex field execution.

Principal Owner · P.Eng. · Project Management

Mike Tanton, P.Eng.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta and later became a licensed Professional Engineer. With more than 30 years of engineering and energy-sector experience and 2,000+ wells completed, his work connects engineering judgment with practical execution across drilling, completions, abandonment and decommissioning, difficult-well planning, constructability, remediation coordination, contractor oversight, and documented project closeout.

B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering · University of AlbertaLicensed Professional Engineer30+ years of experience2,000+ wells completed

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Principal Owner · P.Eng. · Project Management

Clive Mountford, P.Eng.

Clive is a completions, drilling, and operations engineer with more than 35 years of oil and gas experience and 3,000+ wells completed. His work spans multi-stage fracturing, completions engineering, drilling, workovers, well abandonment, SAGD operations, production facilities, pipelines, and operational leadership across Western Canada and international markets.

APEGA and EGBC P.Eng.3,000+ wells completedBudgets managed up to $100MMCanadian and international operations

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Experience focus

Engineering leadership grounded in demanding field work.

Engineering-led planning for difficult well abandonment and remediation scopes.

More than 35 years of completions, drilling, operations, workover, abandonment, facilities, and pipeline experience.

Combined career histories spanning more than 5,000 completed wells across the two principal owners.

Multi-stage fracturing, SAGD, critical-sour, conventional oil, heavy-oil, injection, and shallow-gas experience.

Surface casing vent flow investigation, cement remediation, monitoring, and verification support.

Downhole equipment removal, diagnostic logging, porous-zone isolation, and prior-abandonment remediation.

Coordination among owners, prime contractors, field crews, service companies, and technical specialists.

Field-focused review of changing conditions, technical risk, contingency decisions, and closeout evidence.

Documented capability

Representative records and qualification materials demonstrate experience across difficult-well diagnostics, cement remediation, vent-flow control, equipment removal, monitoring, verification, and final abandonment preparation.

Mike & Clive’s project approach

Understand the actual problem

Begin with the well or site records, field condition, uncertainties, risks, and the result the owner must achieve.

Build a workable technical path

Translate engineering intent into an organized sequence of qualified people, equipment, materials, controls, and verification steps.

Stay accountable through execution

Maintain communication, document field conditions and approved changes, and keep the work tied to the technical objective.

Engineering leadership. The right specialists when needed.

Mike and Clive provide the core engineering and project-management leadership while Grindstone assembles additional expertise for the specific technical question and jurisdiction. That may include locally licensed petroleum, civil, mechanical, or geotechnical engineers; hydrogeologists and geoscientists; environmental professionals; laboratories; certified water-well contractors; and specialty service companies.

Clients receive coordinated support without the false assumption that one engineer or one discipline can responsibly cover every problem.

Discuss a technical project

Start the conversation with Mike or Clive.

Mike 403-512-1225 Email Mike Clive 403-999-5606 Email Clive