What happens when a lean oil and gas operator sets its sights on rapid growth—and builds the digital infrastructure to support it?
In just four years, Saturn Oil & Gas grew from a 400 BOE/d junior producer to a 40,000+ BOE/d multi-asset operator—scaling 100x through strategic acquisitions, disciplined capital investment, and systems built to grow with them.
Hear directly from Sylvester Zdonczyk, Manager of Development Engineering at Saturn, as he shares how the team used Quorum’s Execute and Val Nav solutions to support explosive growth, streamline workflows, and unify planning across engineering, operations, and finance.
A Strategic Growth Blueprint: Acquire, Optimize, Repeat
Saturn’s rise wasn’t accidental, it was the result of a focused, repeatable strategy. Their “Acquire–Optimize–Repeat” blueprint centers on acquiring mid-life-cycle assets, boosting margins, and unlocking untapped value while keeping operations lean and scalable.
The results speak for themselves:
Production Growth:
- 2020: 400 BOE/d and 1 Val Nav user
- 2021-2024: 5 acquisitions boost production to 40,000 BOE/d
- 2025: Two tuck-in acquisitions announced, with guidance raised to 41–43 KBOE/d
Capital Expansion:
- 2025: ~$265MM in development capital across ~200 projects
- 1,100+ booked locations, 126+ operated wells planned
Behind the scenes? A tightly integrated digital platform that grew with the business—powering discipline, visibility, and control at every step.
The Digital Core That Scaled with Saturn
Saturn’s explosive growth demanded more than just powerful tools, it required systems that could evolve with them. Quorum’s Execute and Val Nav formed the foundation of that digital core. Together, these solutions gave Saturn the structure, integration, and visibility needed to scale without adding complexity.
Execute: Building Capital Discipline, Module by Module
A near-term capital management and operations planning tool, Execute supports Saturn across three key modules: AFE Management, Capital Budgeting, and Well Delivery—with well and site inventory management handled as part of the broader Well Delivery process.
AFE Management: From 1 to 50+ Users and 800+ Active AFEs
Saturn’s first experience with Execute started modestly, just a few AFEs tracked by a single user in 2021. Fast-forward to 2025, and the system now supports:
- 800+ active AFEs in a 3-month window
- 15 licenses and 50+ users
- Streamlined approvals, auditability, and change tracking
What began as a simple AFE solution has become the backbone of Saturn’s capital tracking process. Moving to Execute gave engineers more than a system—it introduced structure, transparency, and scale.
Capital Budgeting: Managing $265MM with Precision
When Saturn’s capital budget expanded from $9MM to ~$265MM across 200+ projects, spreadsheets could no longer keep up. Execute’s Capital Budgeting module now delivers:
- A single source of truth for all budgeting activity
- Real-time change tracking and approvals
- Two-way integration with Val Nav for capital forecasting
With Execute, teams can now better manage increasing capital program complexity confidently—achieving greater output with leaner capital deployment.
Well Delivery: Digitizing Execution from Concept to Field
Ready-to-Drill Workflow: Coordinating 120+ Locations
In 2021, Saturn managed its Ready-to-Drill (RTD) process manually for just four wells. Today, that process spans over 120 operated locations, driving alignment across drilling, geology, land, reservoir, and finance.
The Well Delivery module enables Saturn to:
- Assign tasks and responsibilities across teams
- Automate reminders, deadlines, and approvals
- Track document status and progress in one place
What was once an ad hoc, spreadsheet-driven process is now a digital system that brings structure, speed, and visibility from concept to execution.
Well Inventory: Standardizing 2,500+ Locations
Before Execute, Saturn’s well inventory lived in disconnected spreadsheets, tracked in inconsistent formats with no unified system.
Today, the same Well Delivery platform manages over 2,500 booked and unbooked locations with:
- A standardized data model and unique object IDs
- Consistent definitions across depth, formation, reserves, and timeline
- Version-controlled access and edit history
- Integration of data from geoSCOUT for spatial mapping
With this centralized inventory, Saturn enables geologists and engineers to move ideas seamlessly—from early concept to modeled, budgeted, and approved wells.
Val Nav: The Strategic Engine Behind Saturn’s Growth
While Execute powers day-to-day activity, Val Nav is where Saturn sees the future. This integrated business application supports production forecasting (Decline Curve Analysis), economics, type curves, and reserves—all within a single platform. It anchors Saturn’s corporate model and underpins capital planning with deterministic forecasts.
Val Nav plays a critical role across the business:
- Acts as the corporate model for forecasts and budget tracking
- Serves as the reserves database for audits and stakeholder reporting
- Enables M&A evaluations—used in over 100 acquisition assessments
Val Nav also powers Saturn’s Capital Cube, a reporting layer used by executives like the CFO to monitor capital allocation and planning in real-time— without sifting through raw data or complex models.
When Saturn acquired Ridgeback Resources (17,000 BOE/d) in 2023, they evaluated alternatives like Mosaic and other reserve tools but ultimately stayed with Val Nav due to its:
- Native integration with Execute
- Intuitive UI for engineering teams
- >Ease of model migration and XML data handling
The result? A unified, scalable corporate model. Saturn has gone from fewer than 10 million BOE of reserves in 2020 to more than 200 million BOE today—all tracked and managed in Val Nav.
Closing the Loop: Execute + Val Nav Integration
One of the biggest breakthroughs in Saturn’s digital evolution came in 2023: replacing manual spreadsheet exports with a fully integrated Execute–Val Nav workflow.
Today, capital projects flow seamlessly between platforms:
- Engineers build projects in Val Nav and push them into Execute for budgeting and execution.
- Updated actuals and forecasts in Execute are pushed back into Val Nav for reporting and corporate planning.
This two-way sync powers a monthly reforecasting process that spans:
- Capital actuals and variances
- Updated budget snapshots
- Refreshed production forecasts
- Cross-functional reviews and approvals
With this closed-loop workflow, Saturn can reforecast across 140+ wells and additional capital projects on a regular monthly cadence—backed by data integrity, version control, and full auditability.
More than just integrated systems, Execute and Val Nav now function as one connected platform, bridging strategy and execution without breaking momentum.
“Much of our day-to-day work involves Execute or Val Nav, which shows just how integrated these systems have become in our workflows.” — Sylvester Zdonczyk, Manager of Development Engineering at Saturn
Real Challenges, Real Solutions
Even with a strong digital foundation, Saturn’s transformation wasn’t without friction. Early on, the team ran into gaps that threatened confidence in the system—like inconsistent gross vs. net working interest reporting on non-operated projects and manual reconciliations between platforms that introduced risk.
Instead of accepting limitations, Saturn partnered with Quorum to build:
- Custom toggles to handle net/gross discrepancies
- Validation alerts to catch broken links before they caused problems
- Iterative enhancements to continuously refine their integration
We’ve had growing pains, but we work through them. It’s collaborative. That’s why the system works in practice, not just in theory.” — Sylvester Zdonczyk, Manager of Development Engineering at Saturn
This spirit of joint problem-solving turned pain points into progress and helped Saturn build a system their engineers trust.
What’s Next for Saturn?
Saturn’s digital journey is far from over. With a strong execution and planning system in place, the team is now focused on deeper optimization, smarter analytics, and future-ready planning.
Next on the roadmap:
- Continued workflow enhancements through Execute customization
- Expanded use of data cubes to streamline reporting and analysis
- Development of Power BI dashboards for executive decision making
- Evaluation of Execute’s Operational Scheduling module to improve field coordination
- Consider Enersight for scenario-based, long-range development planning in the future
As Saturn continues to scale, so does the need for real-time visibility and proactive decisions. Their next chapter is all about tighter integration, greater transparency, and unlocking even more value from their data.
The Takeaway
Saturn Oil & Gas scaled from startup to significant producer in record time by being agile—making quick, decisive acquisitions and leveraging the Quorum suite of planning and execution tools to support their growth.
Their success shows what’s possible when companies enter the upstream ecosystem with fit for purpose tools. With Quorum’s Execute and Val Nav, Saturn created a single source of truth across planning, execution, and budgeting—delivering more growth with reduced capital. For any upstream company navigating rapid expansion, Saturn’s story is a blueprint worth studying.
Want a quick summary to share with your team? Download the Saturn Oil & Gas Case Study.
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